Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is seen by many as one of the front-runners to secure the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, even if failed, one-term former president Donald Trump decides to run, if only because he doesn’t carry as much baggage as the ex-president and isn’t facing indictment in multiple jurisdictions.
But the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is already warning that DeSantis would be Trump on steroids and a tremendous danger to the country if he manages to reach the Oval Office.
In a blistering op-ed, the Sun-Sentinel editorial board writes:
Ron DeSantis was Ron who? — a back-bencher in Congress with little hope of political stardom — when Donald Trump enthusiastically endorsed him more than four years ago. One Trump tweet changed Florida history. Now, as the ex-president sees DeSantis emerge as his biggest rival, Trump must have buyer’s remorse. You can practically hear the dishware breaking at Mar-a-Lago.
A DeSantis candidacy, the editors warn, would be disastrous for the United States:
Anyone who admires DeSantis from afar should come to Florida with eyes wide open. After winning by just 32,463 votes, he has governed with total contempt toward the 4 million people who didn’t vote for him. He’s as authoritarian as Trump, just as disdainful of democracy, no less polarizing and openly hostile to scientific evidence that doesn’t conform to his narrow agenda
Branding DeSantis as a “bully,” the editorial goes on to note that the Florida governor has even seemed to condone Nazi protesters:
It’s terrifying to contemplate DeSantis in the Oval Office when the next pandemic inevitably comes along. When Nazis picketed at Orlando, he was silent. Exploiting society’s vulnerability to cultural warfare, DeSantis has prohibited schools, colleges and even private businesses from dealing honestly with racism and its ugly history. His law labeled ‘don’t say gay’ by critics openly caters to homophobia, chilling sex education in schools and putting students at risk of being outed to their parents.
The editorial concludes by urging voters to look somewhere other than Florida for their presidential nominee:
The present Republican Party has no shortage of qualified governors or ex-governors to nominate: Larry Hogan of Maryland, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Chris Christie of New Jersey all won election or re-election in blue states by governing from the center, not from the dark extremes. The party’s post-Trump future rightfully belongs to people like them — not to the intentionally divisive, polarizing and humorless DeSantis. Voters in America’s 49 other states, take note.
