Florida’s Bully-in-Chief

April 22, 2022

[Audio version here]

          Ron DeSantis has learned the lessons of Donald Trump and is taking them to the next level. DeSantis sponsored legislation to punish the Disney Corporation for engaging in political speech on an issue affecting Disney employees. The legislation violates Disney’s First Amendment right to free speech and the Florida Constitution, which states that “No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts shall be passed.” And it represents a seismic shift in the relationship between the GOP and the American business community.

          Although the drafters of the ham-fisted legislation made a clumsy attempt to conceal its true purpose, public statements by DeSantis make clear that the sole aim of the bill was to punish Disney for crossing DeSantis’s brutish temper. But the bill targeting Disney is not even the most dictatorial action DeSantis took on Thursday. The Florida legislature also passed a redistricting map drafted by DeSantis that reduces Black voting power in two districts in Florida.

          Per Talking Points Memo, the bill “eliminates a plurality Black district along Florida’s northern border with Georgia, and makes more conservative another district, currently represented by Rep. Val Demings (D), in the Orlando area.” See TPM, Over Shouts Of ‘Black Votes Are Under Attack!’ Florida GOP Passes DeSantis’ Heavily Gerrymandered Congressional Map.

          In the last month, DeSantis has (a) sought to stigmatize LGBTQ+ people by attempting to erase their existence in the educational setting, (b) disenfranchised Black voters in Florida by carving up existing congressional districts, (c) signed an unconstitutional 15-week abortion ban, and (d) punished the free speech rights of a corporation (and its executives) by reneging on long-standing agreements that induced the business to invest billions of dollars in Florida.

          DeSantis’s spiteful actions are designed to increase his popularity among Florida voters. That gambit has resulted in a temporary uptick in DeSantis’s favorability ratings, a development that the mainstream media is reporting with equal measures of admiration, awe, and fear. While DeSantis may believe that his tactics are working, we must use turn those tactics against him to demonstrate that he is unfit to serve as Governor of Florida (or President of the US).

          Despite the breathless reporting by the media, it is too soon to declare DeSantis the victor in his one-person culture war. When DeSantis seeks re-election this November, his fate will not be decided by gerrymandered districts that favor Republicans but by a statewide vote of Florida’s citizens. Florida’s Democrats have an opportunity to convince their fellow Floridians that DeSantis’s actions are anti-democratic, dictatorial, and harmful to the reputation of Florida as a friendly destination for businesses, tourists, and human beings.

          No effort should be spared in revealing DeSantis for the despot he is. Even if he is reelected as Florida’s governor in November (a contested proposition), Florida Democrats should force DeSantis to run to the extreme fringes of his party. That move will weaken his ability to convince persuadable Independents that he is qualified to serve as President of a diverse nation.

          It is time to push back aggressively on DeSantis, who—like Trump—has a thin skin and a mean streak a mile long, unattractive qualities that will work against him as he seeks to expand his base in Florida and beyond. Let’s ensure that DeSantis’s political career is limited to a single term as Florida’s Governor.

Kevin McCarthy may have just lost his chance of becoming Speaker.

          Kevin McCarthy hopes to become Speaker if Republicans flip the House in November. But new revelations may doom his prospects of achieving that goal. The New York Times published an article on Thursday about a forthcoming book, This Will Not Pass. The authors claim that McCarthy told colleagues that he would call Trump and tell him to resign in light of Trump’s role in the events of January 6th. McCarthy tweeted that the NYTimes’ reporting was “totally false and wrong.” McCarthy’s spokesperson said, “McCarthy never said he’d call Trump to say he should resign.” In other words, McCarthy issued an unequivocal denial.

          Unfortunately for McCarthy, the authors of the forthcoming book have a recording of McCarthy telling “Liz” (Cheney?) that he believes Trump will be impeached and convicted and that McCarthy would call Trump to say, “It would be my recommendation you should resign.” The audio recording of McCarthy’s statement is embedded in the NYTimes story, ‘I’ve Had It With This Guy’: GOP Leaders Privately Blasted Trump After Jan. 6.

          The recorded conversation flatly contradicts McCarthy’s denial to the NYTimes. In addition to making a liar of McCarthy, the recording will give his rivals and opponents in the Republican caucus ammunition to sink his bid for Speaker. The comments about Trump (which included a discussion of invoking the 25th Amendment), were made worse by McCarthy’s trash-talking extremists in his caucus. After discussing Lauren Boebert, McCarthy lamented, “Can’t they take their Twitter accounts away, too?” McCarthy should be girding for immediate calls for his resignation from the Sedition Caucus.

          McConnell also raged against Trump, saying, “The Democrats are going to take care of the son of a bitch for us.” McConnell had the good sense not to respond to a request for a comment from the Times. The damaging revelations will continue as the authors tease more information in anticipation of the book’s release next month.

          But here is the most important takeaway: Republican leaders are rank hypocrites and cowards. Their momentary twinge of conscience collapsed instantaneously when Trump directed a scowl ‘in their general direction.’ Their current defense of Trump is akin to the Stockholm Syndrome in which hostages express affection and admiration for their captors. But unlike actual hostages, McCarthy and McConnell know better—they just don’t care. The only thing that matters to them is power, period. Let’s hope that Democrats effectively use these new revelations to spread the truth about January 6th and weaken Trump, McCarthy, and McConnell ASAP.

Various DOJ investigations suggest a lack of focus by Garland.

          In a potentially positive sign, the NYTimes reported that the DOJ has hired an experienced prosecutor (Thomas Windom) to evaluate whether efforts to overturn the 2020 election should be investigated by the DOJ. That significant revelation was buried in a story about a subpoena issued to InfoWar’s Alex Jones. See NYTimes, Alex Jones Reaches Out to Justice Dept. About Jan. 6 Interview.

          So, is it time for me to issue my long-promised “abject apology” if Merrick Garland indicts Trump? Hardly. As Talking Points Memo notes,

Windom has been tasked with determining if ex-President Donald Trump . . . ought to be investigated as part of the DOJ’s Jan. 6 probe . . . However, Windom’s reported involvement seems to be in a preliminary stage; he doesn’t have a team of prosecutors working for him yet, the Times reports.

          In other words, Merrick Garland is thinking about whether to investigate Trump—but not investigating Trump. Fifteen months have passed since the attempted coup. By this point, Merrick Garland should be issuing indictments and preparing for trial. His navel-gazing approach to prosecuting Trump is a dereliction of duty.

          As the DOJ dithers about the coup-plotting Trump, prosecutors are hot on the trail of private citizen Hunter Biden, who may have leveraged his last name to gain access to business opportunities. See MSN, Attorney says feds subpoenaed Hunter Biden paternity records, tax returns. Prosecuting Trump will help save our democracy. Prosecuting Hunter Biden will merely be a “notch” in the belt of whichever ambitious US Attorney wants to prove that he is not afraid to stand up to Joe Biden’s son. That “notch in the belt” will then be parlayed into a $2 million+ salary for said US attorney at a Biglaw firm after they leave government service.

          And, in the meantime, there is no evidence that the DOJ gives a damn about the biggest political-financial scandal in a century: The $2 billion “investment” by Saudi Arabia in Jared Kushner’s newly formed investment firm, whose only client appears to be Saudi Arabia. See Mother Jones, Why the Hell Isn’t Jared Kushner’s $2 Billion Saudi Payment a Big Scandal? Per Mother Jones,

          It’s damn hard to not see the $2 billion investment as either a payoff for past services rendered or a preemptive bribe should Trump manage to regain the White House. And it could be both.

          Merrick Garland is in charge of the DOJ’s enforcement priorities. At the moment, he seems to have those priorities upside down and backward. We are apparently supposed to be impressed that Garland has hired the legal equivalent of a feng shui consultant to decide whether the DOJ should prosecute the ringleader of an attempted coup. Color me unimpressed.

Putin’s war on Ukraine.

          More evidence of Putin’s war crimes is emerging daily. See WaPo, 200 new graves were found near Mariupol in massive burial site. Biden announced another $800 million in military aid to Ukraine, bringing the total US aid package to more than $3 billion. And yet, a new poll says that most Americans believe Biden has “not been tough enough” on Russia. Presumably, those respondents do not understand that direct military intervention raises the risk of global nuclear war.

          Despite its indiscriminate destruction of non-military targets and killing of civilians, Russia continues to sputter in its renewed invasion efforts. See The New Yorker, Is the Russian Military a Paper Tiger?, and Slate, Why the battle for Donbas could be another debacle for Russia.

Concluding Thoughts.

          I continue to receive positive comments from readers who were impressed by the speech by Mallory McMorrow on the Michigan Senate floor. If you have not watched it yet, here is your chance. Although McMorrow’s speech is ten minutes long, it is worth every uplifting and inspiring moment.

          McMorrow’s speech contains profound lessons for Democrats. She spoke from the heart with passion and ferocity. She spoke in plain English and avoided jargon. She did not shrink from a GOP cultural attack. Instead, she turned the “gender identity” attack on its head by describing herself as a “White, Christian, suburban mom who wants her children to respect and empathize with non-Christian, non-White, gay and trans kids and families.” And she managed to include the notion that “LGBTQ kids are not responsible for our crumbling roads and bridges.”

          Bullies are bullies because other people allow them to be bullies. Mallory McMorrow demonstrated how to respond to cultural bullies on the right. It is time for Democrats to start dominating the airwaves with similar passionate and ferocious defenses of women, Black voters, LGBTQ+ kids, and the free speech rights of all Americans. We need to provide the media with compelling counterprogramming that will offset the “free pass” that the media has granted DeSantis up to this point. Like Mallory McMorrow, dig deep and speak from the heart. If you do, people will listen.

          I hope you can find a moment of respite and peace over the weekend. Talk to you Monday!