When the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago in early August, looking for classified or top secret documents Donald Trump had stolen from the White House, many in the Republican commentariat openly longed for a new leader who could bring all the fascism (or the "semi-fascism," if we must) without all the law-breaking. Fox News host Laura Ingraham complained that Americans were "exhausted" by Trump's constant swirl of crimes and scandal, and plaintively asked for "someone who has all Trump's policies, who's not Trump."
As I argued at the time, this fantasy about authoritarianism with clean hands is ridiculous: Corruption is an inseparable from fascism as golf carts from Palm Beach resorts. Nonetheless, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been dangled before the Republican faithful as the potential Boy Scout Mussolini, a man who can dish out all the bigotry and authoritarian crackdowns, without getting distracted by role-playing a mafioso. In large part, this is because DeSantis is perceived as having even less of an internal life than a pickle-brained sociopath like Trump. DeSantis has the look and feel of a prototype politician-robot, who doesn't explode in angry tirades but has been programmed to think exclusively in right-wing grievances. Robots lack the complicated human motives that lead to criminal actions, after all, and DeSantis feels "safer" for those who dare to imagine a fascist regime free of corruption.
