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Maggie's avatar

When I look at Donald Trump, I see a stupid, spoiled man who wants to disassemble democracy for his own enrichment and vanity.

When I look at Ron DeSantis, I see a smart, determined man who wants to disassemble American democracy motivated by a sense of ideological certainty. Who has at every step used power to punish his perceived adversaries.

The only reason DeSantis is preferable to Trump is that he has the mental capacity to understand the ramifications of nuclear war. That is it, there is nothing else that makes me think DeSantis would be preferable to Trump.

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Craig Butcher's avatar

And maybe DeSantis is not actually a paid-for Russian asset. Maybe.

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JF's avatar

An additional reason to fear DeSantis is his God complex. That one campaign ad that depicted him as “chosen by God’ was chilling. Religious ideologues scare me the most, because their beliefs regarding a glorious afterlife give them added motivation to accept death as a celebration - especially when bestowed on others.

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Maggie's avatar

The amount of egotism it takes to believe oneself "chosen by God" would be disqualifying for me in and of itself, but if DeSantis believes all of the crappy things he's done are "in service of a higher being" then we can safely assume that these things are a feature, not a bug.

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Sue Connaughton's avatar

GG- Agree. The “God” commercial, and its implications, deserves more attention.

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TW Falcon's avatar

I'm pretty sure we're going to be seeing a lot of the "And on the eighth day God created DeSantis" video as this thing gets rolling along.

I don't think it will play the way they intended.

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Sheri Smith's avatar

That ad was SO cheesy.

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knowltok's avatar

I also have hope that Ron won't just jump into Putin's willing arms. He might do dumb stuff like cutting off Ukraine, but I don't think he'd pull us out of NATO or share state secrets with Putin, Xi, or Kim.

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Amy K's avatar

I share this hope, but I worry that it is just wishful thinking on my part. Do we have any evidence that RDS is more pro-NATO than pro-Putin?

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Tracey Henley's avatar

Folks, lots of Russian oligarchs in Palm Beach. The ones who know Trump know DeSantis.

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knowltok's avatar

I don't think we do, but until Trump it wasn't a question we'd have even thought to ask of about anyone. Ron's smart, and while he might see some upside in bashing Europe on certain things, I don't see the upside he'd see from being pro-putin. Not compared with the upside of going along with the anti-russia mindset that is still presumably baked in at the CIA, FBI, and DOD. Three groups good to have on side for all of his other priorities.

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Kathe Rich's avatar

Oh, I do. Remember that after he fired Comey, he told the Russian Ambassador (I think he was an ambassador) that he had gotten rid of a problem and could then do what he wanted.

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Maggie's avatar

Which leads to the other point, I think DeSantis would readily accept aid from a foreign power to win an election. Which means he would be a fundamentally compromised president when it comes to national security.

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knowltok's avatar

I certainly don't want to argue that Ron's a principled person who wouldn't do that, but I do think he's smart enough to avoid it if he thinks he can win without it.

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Grumpy Liberal's avatar

It looks like it will be the opposite with DeSantis writing Putin and Russia off as a completely diminished power — now that’s the degree of lack of respect that could trigger Putin to use the nuclear arsenal he still possess.

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Maggie's avatar

I'll give you that.

I think Trump is worse on a "global stability and likelihood of catastrophe level", and DeSantis is worse on a "future of American democracy level".

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Mike Lew's avatar

Don't get me wrong, DeSantis is awful and would be a rotten president. However, he won't be quite as bad as 45. Ron won't be as overtly personally corrupt. Ron won't be as flagrant in his personal law-breaking. Not a high bar to clear, but I do think Ron is "better."

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Jeff's avatar

I disagree. We’ve already seen him engage in morally bankrupt and illegal behavior with the Martha’s Vineyard stunt. He went after Disney (and installed cronies who donated heavily to him on board). I think Ron is more dangerous because he knows how to pull the levers to get what he wants. He can walk the line that will destroy our republic using our own systems against us.

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Sue Connaughton's avatar

So we trade corrupt administration for a DeSantis style authoritarian country masquerading as a democracy (Hungarian style)?

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