The Florida governor Ron DeSantis likes to brag that he’s just getting started with his rightwing agenda.
“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” was how he put it in one recent speech.
He means it as a promise, but it ought to be heard as a threat. That’s particularly true for women whose abortion rights already are being dangerously curtailed and for gay and transgender students who are already being treated as lower life forms. It’s particularly true for those who care about voting rights and press rights, and for those who cherish the power of books and free expression as a foundation of societal wellbeing.
Of course, if DeSantis should somehow capture the presidency (he’s undeclared thus far but the Oval Office is clearly on his mind), that threat would extend to our entire nation and to the world beyond.
“DeSantis rules by an authoritarian playbook,” wrote Miami Herald columnist Fabiola Santiago, despite the Orwellian title of the governor’s book, The Courage to Be Free.
Let’s review some of what has happened on his watch with the help of a rubber-stamp Republican state legislature.
The Parental Rights in Education Act, better known as “don’t say gay”, prevents teachers from talking about gender identity and sexual orientation in some elementary-school grades.
The so-called Stop Woke Act restricts how race is discussed in Florida’s schools, colleges and even private workplaces.
Another law pulled a slew of books from public school libraries while they are reviewed for their supposed suitability. (There are no limits to the craziness: after one parent’s complaint, many high schools yanked The Bluest Eye, the literary masterpiece by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison.)
There’s more, including on the healthcare front. Florida’s medical boards now bar transgender youth from gender-affirming medical care such as hormone therapy. State law bans most abortions beyond 15-weeks gestation; a new bill would tighten that to only six weeks.
And, of course, never forget that true liberty means ready access to guns: Florida residents may soon be able to carry firearms without a state license.
Governor courage-to-be-free also wants to limit press rights, including supporting a challenge to the landmark US supreme court decision that for decades has given journalists enough protection from defamation lawsuits to let them do their jobs.
When DeSantis signed into law new restrictions on voting rights, he did so in a room where local reporters were shut out. Fox News, however, got special access. In another blast of Orwellian doublespeak, the law promises “election integrity” while actually making it harder to vote by mail and greatly limiting the use of drop boxes. No surprise: those rules have the harshest impact on voters of color and those with disabilities.
DeSantis also got his legislature to establish a new and completely unnecessary election crimes office. After the first few cases turned into a legal embarrassment, he got his rubber-stampers to change the law again.
Given all of this, it’s a scary thought that he’s just getting started.
That’s why it’s appalling to see the media lavish him with so much fawning coverage. Fox News has put its calamitous love affair with Donald Trump on ice while it swoons over his younger rival.
DeSantis enjoys glowing treatment from the mainstream press, too. All too predictably, many of the headlines from his recent State of the State speech not only centered on presidential politics but also magnified his boasts. Here’s a skepticism-free example from CNBC:
“‘You ain’t seen nothing yet’: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis touts state record and fuels 2024 speculation.”
The media should be delving into the substance of that record, including the kitchen-table economic issues that have nothing to do with performative anti-woke nonsense. Instead of letting DeSantis play at will on his favorite field of divisive social issues, reporters should dig into his war on teachers’ unions, like trying to limit how they can collect dues and where they conduct union business. Reporters might even point out that this runs counter to Republican claims that they are now the workers’ party.
One of the smartest things I read last week was a journalism manifesto in six words from NYU professor Jay Rosen: Not the odds, but the stakes. This sums up the organizing principle he recommends the media adopt for the political cycle ahead; such coverage would emphasize not the horserace but the consequences for our democracy.
With DeSantis, as with Trump, those stakes are incredibly high. Especially if his threat is true and we ain’t seen nothing yet.
Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture
