How do we know that Ron DeSantis is now a leading light in Republican national politics? Simple – his own Republican controlled legislature is no longer willing to push back on his single handed Congressional redistricting of Florida, which could become a millstone as the governor seeks election to the Presidency in 2024:
In a joint statement, state House Speaker Chris Sprowls and state Senate President Wilton Simpson said legislative staff will not draft a new map for lawmakers to consider when they convene in Tallahassee next week for a special session on redistricting. Instead, the legislative leaders announced they intend to let DeSantis decide how to reapportion the state’s 28 congressional districts for the next decade.
Of course, race plays a role in this, as the Governor has previously drawn a Congressional map that eliminates two district with a significant plurality of Black Americans, which are currently represented by two Black democrats. The kicker is that the Governor is drawing highly partisan maps because he expects to be sued over them, and to run this to the conservative Supreme Court as both a further assault on the Florida Constitution and its Fair Districts amendment – passed by the voters in a referendum – and a further attack on the federal Voting Rights Act:
DeSantis has recently said he expects a legal battle if he gets his way. His own map proposal eliminated two House districts — the 5th and the 10th — represented by Black Democrats. It was critiqued by opponents as a clear violation of a state constitutional amendment known as Fair Districts, which requires lawmakers to give minority communities an opportunity to “elect representatives of their choice.”
Given the conservative makeup of the state Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court, Democrats worry DeSantis’ effort could unravel the state’s Fair Districts amendment, approved by voters in a ballot referendum last decade to reduce political influence in the map-drawing process, and perhaps further erode the federal Voting Rights Act.
So what’s wrong with a governor governing? Nothing I suppose, except he’s not following the law, nor is he following the will of the people as expressed by their legislators. Which is interesting, from the “small government” party, though entirely consistent with current Republican governing, as Avi Woolf reminded us this in his piece:
The lesson here, more than anything, is to look at what parties and leaders do in practice, not just what they say they will or wish to do. Ideologues and elites are important in providing ideas, policies, and the intellectual justification for both, but in the end – hard to believe as it is – it is the voters who have the last word in a democracy.
This should surprise exactly no on in DeSantis’ case – he’s clearly gone full strong man as he seeks to one up Donald Trump for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2024. He sees nothing wrong with denying Black Americans and other Florida citizens their full representation, and he’s perfectly content to pass heinous laws to do so in the belief that conservatives now control the law via the Supreme Court.
Every day, GOP politicians are telling us who they are. We really need to do a better job of believing them.
Amen, well said. My MAGA parents live in Florida and they adore DeSantis. They watch Tucks McGucks every night and believe everything Tucks says. These are relatively well-off and successful people; my parents. But they are rabid culture warriors, and maybe have gotten more so over the years. Desantis gives them what they want. And they are the demo that votes the most of course (over 65). GOP has got this in the bag. Incidentally, my mom is a nonwhite racial minority, albeit not black. I think many GOP voting non-black racial minorities simply do not care, or even think it is great if laws and districts are changed to benefit the GOP. This is a fact that it seems only the lily whitest progressives don’t seem to understand nationwide. Their notions/efforts/wishes that there is some coalition of non-whites who are gonna vote dem just cuz white supremacy-they are killing us (I’m center-left myself). People like Desantis take great advantage of this, and are going to keep doing so at this rate.Report
Related:
Air Force Offers Help To Military Families Hurt By States’ New Anti-LGBTQ Laws
In an incredibly unusual move, the Air Force is making a point to let its hundreds of thousands of personnel know that it will provide families with medical and legal help if they are personally affected by new state laws attacking gay and transgender children.
And if those service members feel they need to leave those states entirely, for the sake of their kids’ mental or physical health, the Air Force will help them to do that, too.
Incredible, that we are witnessing a latter day Underground Railroad to help people escape repressive regimes such as Florida.Report
The Air Force has always been the most progressive of the Armed Services. Having wrestled through Don’t Ask Don’t tell, and with the continued integration of transgendered personnel in the ranks, this move shouldn’t be that surprising.Report
Oddly enough, the USAF is also known for having a rabidly evangelical culture as well. At least they did about 10 years ago. Perhaps they purged that from the ranks.Report
They still have it I think.Report
One of these days I really need to write up the experience of implementing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal, which I was in charge for my unit and part of the larger team for my duty assignment in my last assignment during my desk duty stint as my medical stuff worsened.Report
There’s no better time then the present!Report
I occasionally run into younger folks whose context on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is….severely lacking.
They became politically aware AFTER the DOMA bills started causing backlash, and to them “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is this severely regressive policy forcing gays into the closet — poke them hard enough and you find the assumption that being openly gay in the military was possible back then (as that is the status quo they grew up with) so their understanding is…interesting.
Telling them “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” was a hugely progressive policy for it’s time, designed to prevent anti-gay witchhunts in the military, and that it was hard fought and quite unpopular because it was far too “pro-gay” for many people’s tastes is met with bafflement.
Watching the inevitable progress towards abortion being banned in about 30 states, and the sudden massive spike in anti-gay and anti-trans laws, I suspect they’re gonna be baffled a while longer.Report
And at least in Florida, we can no longer teach this history accurately.Report
DeSantis is clearly doing what is good for his Presidential nomination chances as opposed to good for Florida. See also his anti-mask efforts and so on.
After he gets the nod, if he does, expect a quick pivot to the center.Report
Trump got elected without a nod to the center. I don’t expect a pivot if he gets the nod.Report
Trump was weak and a bad politician (or even just “not a politician”), thus “never Trump”. His only saving grace was HRC ran a worse campaign and Trump is amazingly good at keeping the spotlight on himself.
DeSantis has a history of being saner and working in other organizations not-as-the-top-guy (the military, the Florida political establishment).
It’s a mistake to judge anyone by what Trump would do. The real question is whether or not Trump will run himself.Report
This idea that Trump only lost to a “bad” candidate needs to die in a fire.
The margin between Trump/ Clinton was scarcely different than Trump/Biden.
And a number of polls have shown that if the election were to be held today, Trump could beat Biden, and any other politician in America.
Polls should be taken with caution, but the conclusion is beyond doubt:
Trump is popular.
A lot of Americans love him, and want to vote for him and its entirely possible that he could beat any hypothetical challenger from either party.Report
Without the Pandemic Trump crushes any Dem. If the vaccination had come out a month earlier, then maybe.
A sitting President who is presiding over full employment on steroids and great economic growth has to work very hard to disprove the idea that we shouldn’t vote our pocketbook.Report
Trump never has and never will win a majority of the popular vote so any victory is dependent on electoral college pinball. Full employment is going pretty strong now so i assume you will say Biden is a shoe in. Right?Report
It may be my bias against him, but I never considered him a shoo-in in 2020. Remember, back then a good percentage of the population used to believe the mainstream media. It seemed like the campaign itself pre-covid was trying to avoid primaries, which isn’t a good sign.Report
Trump did pivot to the center on Social Security & Medicare, and was seen as the more moderate candidate by voters in 2016, unfortunately. Plus, as a bonus, making immigration a high salience issue was a good move, because it turned out, while overall, his views on immigration were to the right of the country, they were right in the median of voters that matter – non-college educated voters in the Rust Belt.
As David Shor is fond of pointing out, Obama won ~60% of voters who approved of the ACA, but wanted less immigration. Hillary got ~40% of those voters.
It just turns out, unfortunately, most voters don’t care about democracy all that muchReport
Doesn’t “pivot to the center” mean “telling lies to gullible people”?
I’m thinking of that Arendt quote about how in an authoritarian regime people will applaud their leaders for telling lies, as evidence of how clever they are.Report
Looks like TX wants to get in on the acts as well:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/04/13/texas-truck-abbott-mexico/Report
And the truckers who only weeks ago were protesting Biden in DC are now protesting Abbott . . .Report