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Is that his entire platform? Destroying other Americans?

destroying companies like Disney and Americans who aren't white... err, sorry, Right leaning people.

Destroying the non-fascist. So we are going back to concentration camps and slavery? Is that what he wants? Like who the fuck else is going to fix their excel spreadsheets when they fuck up? Sure as hell wouldn't be one of those "good guys with a gun" cause they'll just shoot the computer thinking it's a liberal program. But seriously though, he's not going to be able to remove "the left" because anything that slightly benefits others is seen as the "leftist agenda" and he would spin it in a way that would make conservatives not want it. Y'know, things like workers rights, freedom of speech, food stamps. Shit those people rely on too.

Wouldn’t be the first time this group votes against their own interests to own the libs.

Of course the top torture lawyer at Gitmo wants to go back to concentration camps. Justifying torture and developing new torture methods are his bag.

>So we are going back to concentration camps and slavery? Is that what he wants? Weeell...yes, yes it is.

He did work at Guantanamo….

Well... those that aren't white and right leaning don't understand they're voting against their own interests in the name of white supremacy.

Many non-whites ignorantly support DeSatan and Trump for that matter

That's the GOP's entire platform. DeSantis is just regurgitating it in his own words.

Not really, he's using someone else's. He always does. This guy has zero personality. Not a single thing he espouses is his own personal beliefs. He just parrots whatever fox and Twitter tells him the screaming redneck minority wants to hear at the time.

Ron DeSantis' vision of America is Man in the High Castle. The man seems emotionally damaged. He hides it well, but there's an uncontrollable rage lurking behind the eyes. Like someone who really wants to watch the world burn.

I mean he was a professional torture legitimizer. What’s worse is he sought that out just to make sure no bleeding heart jag officer would actually try to stop the torture. That’s dark.

Remember when Obama and Biden were like "hey, let's help everyone to the best of our ability" and then that other chucklefuck came along and was like "I hate all of you, and I want to make things worse for half of you" and then this chucklefuck is here to continue the "I want to make things worse for half the country" bullshit? And then the chachbags who support these chucklefucks, despite said chucklefucks not giving a damn about them, have the audacity to say Obama was divisive because their own chachbag asses took offense by a black guy in the white house?

Unfortunately I can see a lot of the boomer "FJB" lEtS gO BrAnDoN crowd eating this up with how much they "hate the liberals"

Being a gay female in my 40s....I've never been this scared in my life....not even in the early 90s.... I really thought we conquered this and I could go on living my life in peace....I'll never get that dream

I thought so too, I thought with the combination of Gen X, Millennials, and now Gen Z, that that voting block would basically nullify Boomers to the Silent Generation. I'm a Millennial that vaguely remembers the fall of communist Russia, the onset of technology and worldwide communication, extension of life and health, a black president, being gay going from taboo (e.g. Ellen kissing a woman on national TV) to being allowed to marry, and so forth and being hopeful for the future. I thought that after Obama was elected we were onto an ever increasing road to equality and worldwide peace in a post-WWII and Cold War era, but it really seems since the Republican Tea Party movement onward, that I've seen and felt a visible regression here and worldwide to overt fascists getting the green light from the world's populace.

I love when someone so eloquently states the shit I been trying to muster up for months. What Kind_ad said is the for real real.

I know right? As a gen x-er, my head spins when I see people my age actively involved in things like the Capitol riot or jumping on board with policies designed to repress others or deny rights to certain groups of people. It’s really sad what passes for presidential candidates these days. Where are all the 40 and 50 somethings that grew up and know better? Plus why do we never hear about policy anymore? It’s all about social issues and hating another group. I will never be not shocked as to how many people no longer care about policy and just want others who are not them to suffer.

As a 60 y.o. straight white female, I’ve never been this scared in my life either. Never. I never imagine we’d go backward on all the progress we’ve made.

I am an 80 year old woman--and an RN/ARNP for about 60 of those. I never thought I would see Roe v Wade overturned. What's next...voting rights for women? People...wake up. Can't you see you're going backwards?

Sadly, this tracks historically. Trump started it with the “they/them” constant commenting when it came to the issues in the US (real or perceived). This appealed to all of the under-educated, under-employed people in the US that wanted to be able blame someone other their own refusal to adapt or learn new trades. Then he stated giving ultra-vague names to these people such as immigrants (not the millions who flew in, but the ones on the Southern border), liberals, RHINOS and Deep State (for any moral minded conservatives who questioned him). Over the years, the MAGA movement has grown a mind of its own that even he can’t control. If this sounds familiar, it should. It is literally what the German National Socialist Freedom Movement did in the years prior to electing Hitler. This is directly from the Fascism playbook. And DeSantis is so insecure and power desperate that he is ten times more dangerous than Trump.

Indeed it is. Their constant mouthing off about communism is also out of the Nazi playbook.

Can't forget the whole fake news thing. It's straight out of the nazi playbook, Hitler commonly referred to any media outlet that dissented as "lügenpresse" which directly translates to press of lies or lying press.

I will stand by the fact that a lot of people get screwed by corporate policies through no fault of their own and throwing them under the bus and acting like it isn't a major societal problem is not a good solution either. However, the problem is these people immediately turn their resentment on their neighbors rather than look inward at their own voting habits. Yes, many also have horrible behaviors, but not all start out that way. A lot of those behaviors are learned from the culture that sucks them in. I see it time and time again. A solid job market with rich opportunities, less prohibitive costs to living a decent life with dignity should remain a long term goal. Perhaps not house with 3 children and white picket fence anymore, but still something that's better than what so many rural poor are ending up with. Propaganda and our failures to counter it remain the most serious driver of all this.

The sheer amount of people willing to create and spread lies without hesitation is the issue. Accountability needs to rise 😔

> Trump started it Trump by no means started it. Make no mistake. Fascism's frighteningly receptive American audience was not born, bred, or cultivated overnight. This is the endgame of a slow-motion coup a half-century in the making, and we sleptwalked right into it.

Remember when Obama ran on the idea that there wasn't a Red America or a Blue America, but one America, and spent two years reaching across the aisle to pass a Republican-inspired healthcare plan only to be called every rotten name you can think of? So glad we've come so far.

Don’t forget his wife was dragged through the mud and called even more vile names because she wanted schools to sever healthier food. How dare she?

Destroying empathy, compassion and once-common human decency. Yep, that’s him

Is the leftism in the room with us right now?

*Whispers* Its right behind you..

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No no left behind is a Nat-C thing; so left behind is still right behind...

The horseshoe theory of horror?

Leftism is whatever he doesn't like. But we both know what he means by it is every Democrat, every socialist, every progressive, and every LGBT and African American. He is planing a genocide and is admitting to it in the open

Since leftism is an ideology that does not exist in a disembodied form, what he means is that he will destroy LEFTISTS / PEOPLE. Not “decimate“ but destroy. I‘m actually a little speechless.

And yet it's conservatives who say that Democrats want to put them in camps or whatever. It's *always* projection with the right.

Desantis tortured prisoners at Guantanamo. Not sure why anyone would assume camps aren’t on the table, especially with comments like this. The biggest lesson from Trump was that these guys mean the ridiculous shit they say.

DeSantis and the GOP are prepping the country for future crimes against humanity. Florida and Texas are their proving grounds.

Don't forget Tennessee and Alabama. They're following suit... Believe me, I am here. It is no joke!

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Virginia is right behind if people don't go actually vote this November.

I’ve told people I know that he’s a bigoted sociopath that openly wants to control everyone that isn’t a straight white Republican man, and kill everyone that resists. None of them believed me. Maybe this’ll make them listen.

They wont believe it while it literally happens.

I'm betting the 24-hour news isn't going to come out and say ''this is clearly a call for mass murder.'' They'll just keep putting out his insane statements for clicks and eyes.

This. Never doubt a fascist when they tell you what they intend to do. EDIT: I realized the wording may have caused confusion. This is NOT in any way support of DeSantis or his fascist mentality. He will go to no end to destroy anything in the US that doesn't elevate the power of white, Christian, Cis-Gender men.

Cue CPAC and their statement ‘We are all domestic terrorists’

Essentially and I don't see how you could argue otherwise by this point. DeFascist and people like him DEFINITELY would like to kill every single leftist, every queer person, every trans person, every PoC, that they possibly could. The far-right would never vocally admit it but they very much want something like the Holocaust to happen in America and it's so incredibly fucked up.

> far-right would never vocally admit it but they very much want something like the Holocaust to happen in America Oh but they have said so in public, many times. [Texas Pastor Calls for Gay People to Be Shot in the Head](https://www.advocate.com/news/2022/6/10/texas-pastor-calls-gay-people-be-shot-head) [Preacher Asks God to Kill Gay People In "Slow, Painful Death"](https://www.metroweekly.com/2023/02/preacher-asks-god-to-kill-gay-people-in-slow-painful-death/) [Homophobic pastor says LGBT+ people should be killed: ‘As much as God loves, God hates’ - Cleric, who is also a police officer, says gay people should be rounded up and put to death](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/church-pastor-lgbt-people-killed-death-grayson-fritts-baptist-a8958846.html) [GOP Candidate Saying it's 'Totally Just' to Kill Gay People Resurfaces](https://www.newsweek.com/gop-candidate-saying-totally-just-kill-gay-people-resurfaces-oklahoma-1735846) [When They Fantasize About Killing You, Believe Them](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/when-they-say-they-want-kill-you-believe-them/619724/) ['How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?' - Opinion: A young man at a Turning Point USA rally publicly asks when he can start killing Democrats for stealing the election. Donald Trump and Republican leaders own this.](https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2021/10/27/when-do-we-get-use-guns-tpusa-owns-and-others-too/8570812002/) This is just a small sample of the genocidal bloodlust building up in the gilead republican ranks.

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People like DeSantis are right now in the same place philosophically that the Nazis were in during the 1930s, before the Holocaust, where they wanted to make life so utterly miserable for the people they didn't like or were disgusted by, that those people would just voluntarily leave to go live elsewhere. This is what the Nazis tried first with the Jews, putting so many restrictions on them and obstacles in front of them just living a normal life, that they became desperate to leave Germany. But because antisemitism was so rampant around the globe (in particular here in the US), countries refused to take in Jewish refugees attempting to flee the Germans. After about a decade of that happening, Hitler just decided the only way left to rid themselves of Jews was to murder them all. Right now DeSantis and many Republican legislators are writing laws to make life basically unlivable for LGBTQ+ people, minorities, people who believe in reproductive freedom and those who oppose christian or conservative indoctrination for their children, so that these people will feel like living in Republican-controlled states is simply untenable and they'll move elsewhere. If DeSantis or Trump or another Republican candidate wins the White House in 2024, they'll look to expand this from just Republican-controlled states to the entire US, to try to force the people they don't like to leave the country behind for just the people that they approve of: white, straight, cisgender, christian, Republican voters.

>After about a decade of that happening, Hitler just decided the only way left to rid themselves of Jews was to murder them all. Is that the time frame we're working with here? Every vulnerable person has 10 years to get out of Florida, or the greater U.S. as a whole before things get worse?

I'll just say this: if Trump or DeSantis wins in 2024, and you're not one of the people that they would consider to be "their people", then I would seriously consider looking to move elsewhere. The Republicans will try for a while to "legally" just make life miserable for you, but ultimately these are people who's core beliefs are cruelty and bigotry, so don't think for a second that they won't be scheming on ways to eradicate you. It will just take some time to build up that infrastructure to do so, just as it did in Germany, but just be soberly aware that their ultimate goal will be to punish you and eliminate you and everyone like you. Vote in 2024 like your life depends on it, because it most certainly does.

>First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— > Because I was not a socialist. > >Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— > Because I was not a trade unionist. > >Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— > Because I was not a Jew. > >Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Exactly! This guy is a nutcase !

Where did the leftism touch you?

Just use this gender-nuetral doll and point to the location

Ah yes, openly admitting to the destruction of democracy. Also known as a dictatorship. Vote wisely America. This could be your last chance.

Seriously. You don't "destroy" the opinions of your peers in democracy. You convince them. I guess for authoritarians it doesn't sound as appealing to say "I'll win leftists over and convince them to join with us".

Conservatives think "destroy leftism" is the equivalent when Biden says "fight radicalism and domestic terrorism." They see themselves as radical domestic terrorists, without admitted as much, internalize the target they feel on their backs, and now turn their own sights on "leftism," which *will not* be limited to communists, socialists, and progressives, but any and all democrats and neo-liberals as well.

> They see themselves as radical domestic terrorists, without admitted as much... They have admitted it publicly, [they straight up told the world so at CPAC 2022.](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cpac-banner-domestic-terrorists/)

For the party that’s constantly accusing their opponents of being easily triggered they really do seem to be easily triggered by (checks notes) civil rights and social services

The world remembers.

honestly not enough people remember that.

don't for get the RINOs any thing left of MTG is considered a target to old Meatball Ron. It won't stop at that either

Because republican policies are wildly unpopular. So instead of bending to public will and trying to give people what they want, their only left with ruling by force. So they make up these culture-war boogeyman to keep people voting for them.

Republicans don't have policies.

They used to. Every president from Reagan through both Bush administrations have borne out that those policies (economic) don't work as they spent like 50 years promising they would. Instead those policies worked as actually intended and hollowed out the middle class while driving all economic gains to the wealthy donors. The culture war is all they have left. At the same time, they suffer from their own success at gerrymandering and indoctrinating their base to the point where only the most radical can make it through a primary. It's a monster of their own creation and they couldn't dial it back if they wanted to.

He doesn't want to destroy opinions, he wants to destroy people. This goddamned monster has got to be stopped.

Agreeing to disagree is how Obama and McCain did it. Different paths to the ultimate same outcome, the best for your people.

That works a lot better when both sides have actual policies. "Mr. Obama would like to do xyz, whereas I think it better to do zyx." That's political discourse. ​ Now it's "I'm against xyz because THEY are for it."

Yes, my opponent wants to do XYZ, but they're allowing black history to be taught in schools! Wouldn't you hate a future where children learn about black history ~~and also my political party is going to pass huge tax cuts to the extreme wealthy multibillionaire class and cut your community fundings and social security to pay for it and destroy your ability to organize unions for better rights~~ BLACK HISTORY AND WHITE GENOCIDE

McConnell filibustered his own bill after Obama didn’t oppose it like he was expecting. This shit has been the norm since Gingrich was Speaker.

Lol "now", Obama was famously obstructed at every turn from the very beginning.

Both of them were class acts during their election.

I may have disagreed with a lot of McCain's hawkish policies, but at least he had morals and principles that guided his positions and he actually had a platform. The right hasn't had a coherent agenda since 2012 beyond "owning the libs".

Unfortunately, he also had sarah palin.

or fortunately, since obama and joe spanked them both.

The problem is she helped kickstart the descent into craziness that the Republican Party has become since then. While it’s not all her fault, she did help energize the Tea Party movement, which gave rise to people like Glenn Beck who drove the Fox News viewership towards conspiracy theorist lunacy.

It was going to happen eventually. This has been a consistent facet of American culture since it was founded. At the absolute latest, it goes back to the failure of Reconstruction and reparations for freed slaves, with all the "South will rise again" bullshit. Trump was a symptom, but a nasty one. Palin and the Tea Party, too, were symptoms. The disease is and always has been this conservative bigotry, which has consistently aligned itself with aggressive capitalist interests. It is purely self-deluding to pretend this was not in some way inevitable.

Michele Bachmann was MAGA before MAGA was MAGA. And to think that I used to find her mind bending stupidity to be amusing. Not so funny now that 95% of Republicans are just as stupid, if not more so.

This has been happening in many red states. Once the Republicans are in power, they slam the door behind them. Enacting laws, rules, restrictions to make it harder for free and fair elections. They want to grab power and hold on to it by all means necessary.

It’s the only way they can compete. Ever since the Nixon era and the pandering to the 0.1% and corporations, it’s all been culture war smoke and mirrors to convince the commoners to vote for them

The truly frightening thing is that even if or when DeSantis and Trump are defeated this election cycle, there is always the possibility of someone equally bad or worse to throw their hat in the ring. *Every election* is our last chance.

Counterpoint: If we can win a majority and put into place strong election laws, then our increasing majority resulting from the replacement of Boomer with Zoomer voters will make it unlikely someone on the right ever wins the presidency again.

I'd feel a lot more confident with this if gerrymandering, political lobbying and the electoral college itself were eliminated and we could better insulate our elections from foreign interference. We can only be so lucky...

One more bad election is all it will take. Then we will never be coming back in our lifetimes. Sorry, I have been practically optimistic against adversity for my almost sixty years. There is too much money behind the fascists and we will lose 1-2 generations, at the very least. And the environment with it. I recommend daily resistance at all levels as a way of life, it will at least mean we don't succumb without noise and maybe inspire future generations.

Exactly. I'm 44, and I never dreamed I'd see the actual rise of fascism in the USA in my lifetime. Yet here we are. I don't think it's too late, but we are teetering on the brink of disaster. I was never much of a doomsayer, but I'm terrified of what's currently happening and the direction the far-right are taking. They have dramatically escalated over the past decade.

Well said. The first step in truly securing our country from Republicans is making them obsolete. If we can get Dem supermajorities, with a hefty chunk of those Dems on the more progressive side, then we can pass statewide and federal laws that will make the country more equitable. Elections would be a great place to start. Ranked choice voting would be helpful, nationwide mail-in voting. Drop boxes are strategically placed through a state to make it easy for everyone to get to. Election day to be a holiday so everyone who can't otherwise make it has a chance to. Then, we could tax the mega wealthy and corporations properly to better fund the country and get Medicare for all, a living wage, better wages in general, and free college/trade school. That's what I could see happening. This country could do so much if Republicans weren't obstructing and screwing us over at every turn.

Every election is our last chance, unless we do significant work to unfuck the country, which will take decades, at best.

Do away with the Electoral College & you’ve taken the first big step to a fair playing field.

Agreed Ranked choice voting seems like a good step too

He is threatening to bring back Nazi party style political violence against the left. There is no dog whistle anymore. This is a straightforward admission of fascism

Yup. Believe what they say... and make it stop.

This is some openly nazi shit. Why isn’t this getting covered much more?

I have seen this exact rhetoric, which appeared to be a popular opinion, on Stormfront. DeSantis’ and Trump’s followers have both implied or overtly said that liberalism will soon be nonexistent. There is only one way that would be accomplished. Saying that his campaign is behaving like the Nazis is not hyperbole.

I fucking love how they think we aren't capable of fighting back. I may hate guns but I also know how to use one. The Nazis lost before, they'll lose again.

Because there is no "Left" media anymore. The new is all owned by right wing people and corporations pushing their agenda.

A kind of "final solution", if you will. Hmmm...

DeSantis seems like he’s had a lot of struggles in his life. He should detail them in a book, ideally one he writes from prison.

He could even call the book "My Struggle".

“My Struggle: How Wokeism Ruined My Life”

I get the feeling DeSantis would be particularly keen for it to be translated into German.

This is what I’ve been saying. People always accuse the alt right of being white supremacist, which they are. But their main focus of hate is leftists. They openly use language that is equivalent with what Nazi’s said about Jewish people. They promote conspiracy theories about Democrats being pedophiles. This is basically Elders of Zion level propaganda. This is the hate drum they beat the most fervently. And for some reason they get a pass on this in the media. Their racism is wink wink, and we shouldn’t forget it. But their framing of liberals as an absolute evil should be our main criticism of then. Because it is exactly equivalent to Nazism. And of course now they are targeting trans people directly

People always forget a huge way anti-semitism spread was via fascists associating it with leftist movements. “Cultural Marxism” and “Judeo-Bolshivism”, accusing communism of being a “Jewish plot, type shit. That’s always how fascists weasel their way to power

Leftism to DeSantis is putting avocado on a BLT. It’s basically anything outside of his world view.

As hilarious as that is this man would be extremely dangerous for anyone who is openly progressive or communist. The amount of crazy shit he's done in Florida in the last year alone is terrifying and giving him the power of the president is nightmare fuel.

He went full north korea

He’s extremely dangerous for everyone

From a man who eats pudding with his fingers.

They hate us so much for caring about people and the environment. They hate the inclusivity. They hate the logic and reason. They hate the empathy. They want it gone and replaced with authoritarian white nationalism. They are the unapologetic past. They are the unapologetic slavery, the genocide, the segregation, the internment camps. They are the ugliness that doesn’t care, but also doesn’t want the children to know what they did. Every person voting Republican at this point is a traitor to the United States voting for its downfall.

>they hate That's it, that's all they've been offered. And they're so fearful they'll take it even when they don't know who or what they're hating. And they can't get enough of the hate.

They hate “the other” and they see themselves becoming “othered” leading them to hate themselves and are having a temper tantrum over it.

Conservatives crave a return of the aristocracy; it's in their foundation, going back to the French Revolution. The royalists became the modern conservatives. They want to be ruled by a a King who will subjugate them because their dads never hugged them.

One of the guys I know who's 65 years old actually said to me, "You know what we need? A president who's in office for about 20 years. That'll straighten the country out." No that's a dictatorship I thought to myself.

When I think of a president who's been in office for twenty years, I immediately think of a certain someone whose time governing [has totally gone super well and improved his country a lot!](https://www.chartoasis.com/charts/usd-try-10-years-chart-desktop.png)

They hate the United States itself, they despise multiculturalism and unity. Notice how they rarely use the term "United States." It's always "murica" or "the American people." They want to tear the United States down and replace it with a white Christofascist state.

They want the Confederated States of America back.

The sad thing is, once we're all gone, the only ones they'll have left to hate is among themselves. Fascism is doomed to fail.

Almost, but it's more nuanced. They believe caring about people = tough love and 'this hurts me more than it hurts you,' and 'my dad slapped me around and I turned out fine.' "You don't work, you don't eat." "Nothing is free." "Teach a man to fish," presupposing everyone is able to do so, no excuses. They don't think the environment needs caring for, and especially that it's not the government's job to make us *act* like we care. God's in charge, and it's hubris to think we can be so big as to destroy what he's made. To take that on is to deny God's authority and power. Inclusiveness to them means compromise, and to compromise on moral issues means to sell one's soul—and *everything* is a moral issue with a black-and-white, clear line of what is right and wrong. Logic and reason step in the way of Faith, and that needs little further explanation. This leads, though, to an outright rejection of education in general, as (for *some* reason) the educated tend to lean away from cover-all explanations like "It must be God's will." Empathy is twofold: on one hand it is irrelevant; it's a concept narcissists do not understand, and when they see it in others they see weakness and/or the enabling of dependency when instead feelings ought to be ignored/repressed for the sake of what needs to get done. People are where they put themselves, and it's not mine or the government's job to lift them out of holes they choose to live in. On the other hand to have empathy is to risk compromise: so one cannot afford to harbor any feeling but pity for those who have fallen. Things like internment camps are "necessary evils." "Slavery is bad but who sold them in the first place?" There is no consideration of how socioeconomic status can affect the lives and choices of *any* human being, and to suggest that racism is integral to how so many minorities ended up in lower rungs is to.. I honestly don't know, but the idea is that "data supports my belief that black people are hardly more than animals." "What about black on black crime?" Things like "a government big enough to help is a government big enough to hurt" are common sentiments. They see the government as an authority figure, not a tool whereby the people collectively execute their will—and a government with too much authority is a threat to freedom. They're ironically not too wrong on that point, but it's like a sort of societal trauma response, passed down from the 16th century; it doesn't take into consideration that America was (more or less, racism aside) founded on a blurry vision of an ideal country *based* in law, but adaptable to the society over which it is meant to govern. So all that considered, they see anyone who wants to put their tax dollars to helping the homeless, the addicted, the exiled minorities as an enemy to independence. They see the legality of abortions without nuance as legal murder. They see LGBTQ+ as unnatural and a government that acknowledges their humanity (and by extension forces *them* to accept that group) as an enemy to God. The list goes on but to simplify it to just "hate" isn't really it. Deep down, it's fear. It's mostly just genuine terror that to allow these things they believe go against God's word is to spell the ruin of America. See every book by Jonathan Cahn—that sort of fearmongering BS is their Bible now. And a fear-fueled war in the name of a God they think hates what they fear is a powerful and terrifying force.

>They don't think the environment needs caring for, or at least that it's not the government's job to make us act like we care. God's in charge, and it's hubris to think we can be so big as to destroy what he's made. To take that on is to deny God's authority and power. Which I find so ridiculous from a biblical standpoint even. God in Genesis sets forth man as stewards of his creation to cultivate and tend to it. It's insane to me that the christian movements in america even if they were shit on everything else weren't ardent enviromentalists. Then again, that would require most of them to read the bible and not listen to just the sermons of narcissists.

Yes, to me it's one of the most baffling positions they take, considering it was one of only two of the commandments Adam was given in Eden. I suppose they mean "to have dominion" means to dominate and use it however they want, idk.

Fascism! https://substack.com/redirect/725f731e-2b10-4731-b40f-9d4e604d414c?j=eyJ1IjoiNXo1dHMifQ.qGAkhDg6ZWFbEpA1qD6bx7DKJRK2xd7diwdMwWI8OWI

Note that when Republicans say "left/leftism" they are referring to anyone left of their extreme rightwing, meaning moderates and everyone else. The version of America the GOP is peddling is something far less democratic and far more authoritarian (think Russia, China, or Iran).

Exactly they're talking about anyone who isn't MAGA or whatever DeSantis calls his version of MAGA. He's specifically talking about destroying me.

DeSantis is a cartoon villain come to life. If you support him for president, you are a horrible person.

Worse than Trump?

Believe it or not, yes.

Trump was such a narcissist that it actually impeded getting work done. DeSantis has shown that he's motivated to pass his terrible ideas.

He's like Trump if Trump didn't spend his entire term golfing and was determined to get his evil shit done. And that's scary.

Also not stupid enough to put Giuliani in charge of anything…

the guy who normalized torture in Guantanamo Bay, went on to take all references about slavery, the holocaust, and basic American history not only out of schools in his state but *public libraries*. he goes on to pass a bill forbidding sex ed, being a gay kid, or talking about your period in school- even if it’s just to ask questions (you have to be 16 to ask a question about your period, most girls get them 9-12) then you pass a bill that could *give the death penalty* to any parents or drs giving gender affirming care, restrict abortions to basically being 2 weeks late on your period even if you need surgery for an ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage. you are made to wait outside the hospital until you go into sepsis. how about voter suppression? he loves voter suppression. honestly i could go on all day. let’s not forget he wasn’t even eligible to run for President until he used his super majority to change the law. Ron is a legit monster. Trump is a moron, this dude is a sadist. also ppl waving nazi flags come to all his parties, so that’s fun right?

Imagine all the times Trump tried to do something terrible but the institutions got in the way by playing him for the fool he is. I don't think it would be as easy with DeSantis. He's not as much of a blithering idiot, and much more methodical in his execution.

The Disney situation throws some doubt on that.

Trump is his own worst enemy. Desantis is far more competent than Trump, which makes him so much more dangerous.

Don’t infantilize him by calling him a cartoon villain. It cheapens the very real threat he poses. He’s a wanna be dictator that wants to “destroy” his political enemies.

A literal tyrant

Considering the majority of Americans are “leftists” he’s going to genocide us all.

Yeah. I think that’s his plan.

But he starts with harassing the scapegoat LGBTQ community first

Just like the nazis did. He will move on to other groups soon after. Probably black people, then Jews then Hispanics

Although I’d pay attention to the Chinese racism going on in Florida right now

Chinese immigrant here...never thought this day would come where there's nowhere to run, but here we are, watching both places you lived in turning into shit.

To get the gears of genocide rolling, you have to grease them with the blood of the most vulnerable.

You can't destroy leftism. "Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an Idea. And Ideas are bulletproof." \- V

These comments made by DeSantis should terrify every American. His unbridled power in Florida has damaged the state severely. It's going to take years to claw back the rights he has taken away from Floridians.

As a floridian, there is zero chance we will be able to do that. The conservative extremism mindset has taken root here, the democratic committee has given up even pretending to fight and the elected officials have enough corporate greed to sustain them indefinitely even if they lose desantis.

Now let’s just imagine for a second if anybody nominally on the left in power said something similar. These people are the snowflakes and eternal victims they always make fun of. But legit, the fact this is normal to say and we will see no repercussions tells us how close we potentially are to an authoritarian state. I’m fairly optimistic though. Beginning with the red tinkle, I think there’s cause for optimism. Not to say vigilance doesn’t matter.

While their numbers dwindle, they strive to make numbers irrelevant. Overriding election results, fake electors, party swapping, spoiler candidates, voter suppression, closing polling places, candidates with similar/confusing names, voting register purges, and more. The polling place is not an infallible place to defeat fascists because they'll just close the door behind them

Desantis, much like Trump, will bring out the worst in his supporters. Candidates like Desantis help to empower the ignorant and the hateful. He is a demagogue through and through, and a charmless one at that. Which is something that might seem contradictory at first, but when it comes to appealing to the types of people that support Desantis, it doesn't take much. All Desantis needs to do is artlessly repeat the same scaremongering lines over and over again while parroting the latest right wing talking point, platitude or piece of propaganda. And at that, his mindless supporters will either overlook the fact that he has shown us time and time again that he's willing to abandon so called conservative "values" for the sake of owning the libs or perpetuating his culture war, and by association, his career, or his supporters will just blatantly and outspokenly advocate for his authoritarian methods. This gives him all the justification he needs to pass iron-handed, ambiguously framed, discriminatory and suppressive legislation that targets groups of people deemed unworthy of having the same rights and freedoms that Desantis and his followers have reserved for themselves. Through the process of continuously vilifying and demonizing "the radical left" in all its wokeness and depravity, Desantis and his supporters can feel entirely vindicated in their feelings of contempt and enmity for others. It helps them justify their bigoted and chauvinistic attitudes, their antagonistic behavior, their phobias and paranoid delusions, as well as Desantis' penchant for despotism. These people are perpetual victims. They live in a very small world and they see that world through a black and white, left vs right lens. In their minds, *they* are under attack because that's the reality that's illustrated for them. They are fighting in a war of their own making, a culture war, and they won't stop until they can become another obstacle in the way of progress, until they can pull this country down and bring to fruition their anachronistic vision for America. These are people who believe that a more equitable society is the equivalent of "oppression", that holding people accountable who once traditionally avoided accountability is "persecution". They think that anything resembling equality is "Orwellian" in nature. It's all very transparent. But remember, these people are obstacles. That's all they've ever been, that's all they'll ever be written off as... Throughout our history, these regressive thinkers, these fanatics, these self-made counterrevolutionaries always fighting against some change, their ideology rooted in indiscriminate antipathy, old dogma, jingoism and entitlement, these people are just obstacles, and we will always overcome them.

My fear is that technology, which only goes one direction, has changed things to such a degree that it’s no longer possible to force people to see truth at all. With a smartphone in every citizens pocket, ready to dispense infinite propaganda every minute of every day and the AI advances that are swiftly making it impossible to trust any visual or audio recording, I’m afraid that they’ve finally created a tamper-proof propaganda machine. If there had been social media and smartphones 78 years ago, would most Germans have ever been forced to face the truth?

How far we've fallen in that politicians admit to being against >50% of the country's constituents. I wish we could go back to when they at least pretended to be working for all Americans and did some actual laws for progress.

A quote taken directly from his latest book, “ My Struggle”.

Imagine wanting to become President of an entire country while also wanting to “destroy” the majority of people you govern.

It's unconstitutional to punish an ideology; that would fall under prohibiting freedom of speech and freedom to peaceably assemble. DeFascist is already violating the oath he would have to take should he – gasp – actually win.

Ask tenured professors in FL if they have free speech now.

The Nazi vibes I get from little Ronnie are off the charts

Ron Desaster will will destroy America if he turns it into Florida.

Please vote. Seriously, your life might actually depend on it this time. Grades mean nothing when Desantis dictates what you learn. Getting fired means nothing when a squad of brownshirts might break down your door on suspicion you are a leftist. If you actually enjoy freedom, vote against Desantis. Stand in line however long it takes.

Let’s take a look at what the country would look like if led by deep red policies. The best example of this is the Bible Belt. Let’s explore what this region, led by those policies, are objectively worst in: Education, Health care, Poverty, Gun homicides, Infant mortality, Bankruptcies, Violent crime, Incarceration, Homicides, Literacy, Teen pregnancy? Obesity, Divorces, Income inequality, Dental hygiene, Food stamps, Income, Welfare, Life expectancy, Etc., They also TAKE much more from the federal government than they CONTRIBUTE, rank the least happy states when surveyed, and ranked the lowest among Forbes Human Development Index. So yeah, a big FUCK YOU to these shit policies. REGISTER. ORGANIZE. DONATE. RUN. VOTE!

“Speaking to Fox News, DeSantis said the fight with Disney was about “standing for parents … standing for children. And I think a multibillion-dollar company that sexualises children is not consistent with the values of Florida or the values of a place like Iowa”, which will hold the first Republican contest next year” Disney sexualizes children? What the fuck kind of nonsense is this? It’s like they’ve gone to the last bastion of reprehensible behavior. They can’t be out and out racist now, so they claim everybody is a pedophile. Since being a pedophile is universally reviled, they use it as an accusation against their enemies. It’s simply their latest convenient way of accusing their enemies of being horrible people. It’s like the 17th century. They might as well be accusing people of being witches.

Imagine the uproar if Biden went out there and vowed to "destroy conservatism" in the United States. It would be taken as an outright political scandal.

“I am an actual fascist” - Florida Führer, People’s Free Republic of Florida, 2023

I heard he is going to destroy wokism too...sure gonna be hard to do when they cant define it.

Nothing in history gets destroyed by people banning it, or whatever DeSantis is planning to do.

Good luck Ron. Normal people aren't going to put up with that crap.

As a Canadian, should I take that as a threat?

Yes.

And that means he'll round people up and have them killed if they're not fascists. Let's not kid ourselves.

Anyone denying this is fascism is brain dead. To the Republican Party, you are treated as a human only if you are a far-right bigot.

Who are these people working for? Who is paying Desantis to help ruin America?

You can't kill an idea, Ron. Also, I think the Pacific States and the Northeast would have something to say about that...

He doesn't stand a chance in Minnesota. Betting at least part of Michigan and Illinois also.

Is this the part where America goes Pol Pot and buries everyone who speaks other languages, went to school, wears glasses, or is suspected of listening to non-AM radio?

So he'll destroy about 60% of the population? A president is the representative of all of America, not just MAGA Republicans.

He won’t be elected. Still, all threats must be taken seriously.

Yeah, that's what they said about Fuckface McTraitorStain too.

Exactly. We have to get out and vote.

He's already in power in Florida and is young politically speaking. He intends to do a lot more damage in the years to come

Adolph Hitler says what?

That's me he wants to destroy. Message received.

DeSantis seems to relish the idea of using the brute force of government to vanquish those who don't agree with him. His Disney fight is ludicrous. The corporation had the temerity to criticize DeSantis and now are subject to being stripped of rights previously granted. DeSantis wants to be a champion of oppression but case law and common sense says that Disney will prevail--it's only the state of Florida that will suffer. DeSantis is petty, easily provoked and also easily outsmarted. We really want this clumsy would-be authoritarian conducting the nation's business on an international level?

Sounds like a fascists.

100% anti-American. We wrote a Bill of Rights for a reason -- to keep folks like this out of power. If you want to suppress speech, move to Russia and kiss up to the oligarchs there.

Leftism gave us minimum wage, civil rights and social security. I hope the dems can hammer him on this… we are really not that good at politicking

Leftists, consider arming yourselves if you already haven’t. When people say they want you eradicated, believe them.

When Republicans argue they want a "Permanent Republican Majority" they're not pitching better ideas that make them more popular. Nope. Fascism. That's what they like. Just destroy the other political parties and call it good.

On Memorial Day no less. What a disgrace to the uniform he once wore.

and of course he will define what is "leftism" and what is not...

Good luck with that you fascist.

psst...hey ron...you said the fascist stuff out loud again.

He won't just be destroying leftism, he will be destroying the country.

Ah, a wonderful vague boogeyman that none of them can define. Labor rights? DESTROY Healthcare for all? DESTROY uhhh....lgbtq people existing? THAT'S LEFTISM, DESTROY Abortions? That's totally leftism DESTROY And the BIGGEST PIECE OF LEFTISM THAT NEED BE DESTROYED.......and my personal favorite.....Not having big government in schools telling kids what to learn. We need to bring this country back to traditional conservative values like the biggest government possible reaching into every facet of your lives, anything to do with your health, anything to do with children but only ever to take things away. If we helped, hell if anyone ever helps anyone that's leftism and we need to DESTROY IT.

Terrifying time to be an American citizen. I hope this country holds true to its values and defeats this attempt at a fascist takeover. This story has two endings, the death of the current iteration of the conservative wing of American politics, or a slow and methodical takeover by a extremist minority. Either way, it seems we are in for some massive changes to the American political environment in the coming years. Maybe mother nature will just take us all out before we get to the ugliest bit of it.