SWAMP Things

Ron DeSantis won't hesitate to race Trump to the bottom. Take it from a native Floridian

- Carl Hiaasen

WHERE IN GUILT-FREE Florida we're often asked if Ron DeSantis is really worse than Donald Trump. Not long ago the question would have seemed ludicrous because Trump had set the bar of execrable behavior so high. Who could outpander the most prolific panderer of all time? Who could be worse for democracy than the person who snuggled up to murderous dictators, spoke fondly of white supremacists, smeared Mexican immigrants as rapists and killers, tried to overturn an election, and incited a goon siege of the Capitol? The list goes on.

Technically, the ex-president isn't a true Florida man; he's just another rich tax refugee. DeSantis is a native, one of our own, and he has proven himself to be just as thin-skinned, soulless, and vengeful as Trump. Betraying his political godfather to seek the Republican presidential nomination demanded more of DeSantis than casual disloyalty; he needed a metaphorical crowbar to pry his perpetually pinched lips from Trump's ass.

From then on, his strategy was to slither past Trump on the right. As governor he has delightedly signed new laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community, abortion rights, gun restrictions, voting liberties, conversations about the history of racism, and from his boundless well of spite, Disney. All that, plusaccording to a campaign video-a personal endorsement from God, and still DeSantis is polling a drab, distant second to Trump.

Clearly the governor isn't getting credit for being as awful as he is. Have people already forgotten that his midpandemic reversal on COVID vaccines killed off untold numbers of Floridians who'd naively looked to him for guidance? It takes the icy soul of a fentanyl dealer to factor customer mortality into your own marketing plan.

Although critics say DeSantis is Trump Lite, the two differ sharply.