By courting the hard right, De Santis is deluding himself.
All along, De Santis has been pandering to the hard right faction of the Republican party. It's the side that embraces the idea that America belongs to the "right" kind of American, which is to say, Anglo-centric conservative roots. To court them, he uses terminology which is not disguised. The Anti-woke rhetoric is very much in our face, evidenced by his programs. He took on Disney in the beginning because they dared to stand up to his anti-gay policies. He's removing books in our schools that teach tolerance or awareness about the minority experience. THESE are very loud tells about his personal prejudices. Yet, I think he believes that no one has deciphered what he thinks is a dog whistle.
Every time that someone takes him head on and asks him a question that would expose him for the racist that he is, he avoids giving a direct soundbite that would make it simple and easy to replay. And we need these statements to reach the Republicans who are go-alongs. They're not full blown racist, or anti-gay and this failure to look deeper will blind them into voting for someone who can very well become our first American Mussolini.
I'll give you two examples of these kind of voters. One Republican just dismisses De Santis rhetoric, claiming he is talking big just to expand his voter base. He doesn't live in Florida and doesn't really believe that De Santis will follow through with his programs. Another Republican is a mother who has a gay son, loves him dearly, accepts his lifestyle, but she likes what De Santis is doing. When I told her that De Santis has an anti-gay agenda, she replied that the media twisted his words.
That's why we need a hard hitting, concise statement from this weaselly governor that leaves no room for doubt that he does have an anti-gay and anti-racist agenda and he doesn't support women. He cannot go into the next election with these issues left dangling.
So far, he's been able to get away with it by either getting pouty and angry at the questions or claiming that he did not have anything to do with the changes that are taking place at the local level. i.e. He claimed that he was not responsible for the school book removals because he didn't give the direct order, yet the orders stand because everyone knows that's what he wants. They are riding out a direct dog whistle, like they think we are incapable of deciphering the message. And that's why he's such a weasel.
In Florida, he'll get away with it, because this is how Florida operates. It is behavior that I call: it is, but it really isn't. I saw it when we had two leaders representing our HOA during a chaotic time in its development. One was the leader that tried to take control of the board by extending his term without a formal election, and the other was a good ole boy who had a direct relationship with the Mayor. So I got to see both ways that Florida operates. The backwater way, and the way that pretends to follow the rules. Imagine trying to get proper representation with that situation? They both pretended they were following the proper process, at the same time that they were defrauding us by withholding information, just so they could get the results they wanted when it came down to recording a vote. The hidden alliances with their supporters gave them the power to sell snake oil at the formal meetings.
There is only one way to break out of this rabbit hole, and that is to expose their agenda loudly, clearly and publicly. Unfortunately, in my HOA case it would take years to figure out the game board and time is of the essence in these situations. But in De Santis' case, we know everything we need to know. He is anti-gay, anti-minority and anti-female. The media needs to get those soundbites that show his affiliations now, so he has no pretense of enjoying dog whistles that to us, are as loud as a steam locomotive.
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