The Most Dangerous Person In American Politics
Also, the reports on the death of liberal democracy are slightly premature.
I’m Michael A. Cohen, and this is Truth and Consequences: A no-holds-barred look at the absurdities, hypocrisies, and surreality of American politics. If you received this email - or you are a free subscriber - and you’d like to subscribe: you can sign up below.
After a week in France, it’s great to be back in the United States, where the politics are completely normal, there is no reason for concern about the nation’s future, and everyone gets along swimmingly, particularly on social media! On a more positive note, the NBA playoffs, so far, have been great!
Macron Wins
Of course, the bigger news out of France is that French President Emmanuel Macron coasted to a relatively easy reelection victory over right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen. Now I’m no expert on French politics, but I’m starting to get the impression that French voters are not terribly inclined to vote for a xenophobic politician whose surname is “Le Pen.”
Now, it’s worth pointing out here that Marine Le Pen did significantly better than she did in 2017 — increasing the percentage of her vote by 7.5 points. But Macron is a relatively unpopular politician, and he’s the first French president to win reelection since Jacques Chirac in 2002 (who also defeated a Le Pen). And his victory came after Le Pen made an enormous effort to moderate her image and sand off some of her rougher right-wing edges. Before the first round of the French election, poll numbers showed a relatively tight race between the two candidates, and many commentators believed Le Pen had a chance to win. But, it seems clear that as French voters began to contemplate the possibility of a Le Pen presidency, they recoiled.
While the Le Pens may keep trying to win presidential elections, it’s pretty obvious that French voters are simply not interested in turning the country over to their right-wing, anti-immigrant vision of France’s future.
In Europe, it seems, they have a great deal of company. On the same day as Macron’s smashing victory, the right-wing government in Slovenia badly lost in parliamentary elections. And as Brent Peabody pointed out recently in “Foreign Policy,” this is a recurring trend in Eastern Europe. Over the past several years —in Slovakia, Moldova, Bulgaria, Czech Republic — left-leaning parties have regularly triumphed over their right-wing opponents. This has not been the case in Hungary, which just witnessed the reelection of right-wing Prime Minister Victor Orban. But Hungary is increasingly the exception, not the rule in Europe.
In 2017, when Macron defeated Le Pen by more than 30 points, it suggested that European governments were not necessarily going to follow the lead of the UK (after the 2016 Brexit vote) and the United States (with the victory of Donald Trump) down the road of right-wing populism. This time around, we have an even clearer indication — one matched by electoral outcomes elsewhere — that neo-fascism is not gaining traction in Europe.
The Most Dangerous Politician In America
It would be normal to assume that the title above refers to Donald Trump or Mitch McConnell, but instead, the ignominious winner of the “most dangerous politician in America” is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
In the past several weeks, DeSantis has pushed through legislation in the Florida legislature to ban discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools as well as contentious racial issues; gerrymander the state’s congressional districts to give Republican candidates a considerable advantage, and curtail tenure at state universities. Last year, Florida passed legislation to limit the ability of state residents to engage in political protests and restrict voting rights.
While this concerted assault on fundamental democratic freedoms — and the governor’s political opponents — is concerning, DeSantis’s latest step is perhaps most worrisome.
Last week the Republican-dominated Florida state legislature passed legislation repealing the special tax status enjoyed by Disney at its theme park in Orlando.
Trust me when I tell you that I have no soft spot for Disney or Disney World, a place I hope never to revisit — and Disney’s tax breaks should probably be revoked on general principle. But what DeSantis is doing is so profoundly authoritarian that it’s legitimately terrifying. The assault on Disney is a direct result of the company’s representatives speaking out against the recently passed “Don’t Say Gay” law that aims to limit the discussions of sexual orientation in Florida schools and will almost certainly put LGBT (particularly trans children) at risk. DeSantis is seeking to punish Disney for criticizing his legislative priorities. Or, to put in simpler, more disturbing terms, he’s using the power of state government to intimidate and threaten his political rivals.
I’m not being hyperbolic. In a fundraising plea this week, DeSantis basically admitted it: “Disney thought they ruled Florida,” the fundraising email said. “They even tried to attack me to advance their woke agenda.”
That ideological conservatives, who have long warned against such abuse of state power, are either cheering on DeSantis or remaining mum is a good indication that for many of them, political power holds far greater importance than their professed beliefs.
Indeed, Florida Republicans are not exactly acting coy in describing the legislative attack on Disney as a way of curbing the company’s political advocacy.
Here you have the state’s lieutenant governor, Jeanette Nunez, clearly saying that if Disney stops criticizing DeSantis and stops producing content that Republicans don’t view as appropriate, they can avoid government sanction. Indeed, last week, Exxon quietly ended the practice of allowing employees to fly the LGBTQ rainbow flag from company flagpoles. And if you think that isn’t connected to what’s happening in Florida, I have a bridge to sell you in lower Manhattan. Again, this goes to the heart of conservative fears about the misuse of government power, and it’s barely raising a peep on the ideological right.
The impact of DeSantis’s move will be felt most acutely by voters in the counties that Disney calls home as they will likely see a significant increase in their tax bills to cover the costs of services that Disney has, up to now, provided. Ordinarily, one might expect that a politician — particularly a Republican politician — would be loathe to stick a massive tax increase on voters. But DeSantis is making the political calculation that culture war politics are so powerful within the GOP coalition that it won’t matter — and Republican voters will cheer his efforts to go after “woke” Disney. I suspect that he’s correct.
So what we have here is the governor of the third-largest state in the country — and a potential frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination — using state power to deeply politicize already-dominant culture war politics and do so in a way that strikes at the heart of fundamental democratic freedoms.
While DeSantis lacks the political charisma and narcissistic mania of Trump, he more than makes up for it with his political wiles. He’s as vindictive, demagogic, and unmoored from democratic principles as Trump but far more effective — and he doesn’t have nearly the same political baggage as the former president. His actions also show how authoritarian-minded Republican politicians can:
Silence their political critics (blocking political protest and chilling corporate free speech)
Limit representation (through the use of aggressive gerrymandering and voting restrictions)
Direct target those they’ve derided as political and cultural undesirables (limiting academic tenure and taking away corporate tax breaks)
And wrap all of it in the guise of protecting family values (scapegoating Blacks and the LGBT community).
DeSantis is up for reelection this year. If he wins, I would expect more Republicans to imitate his political strategy — and, of course, we’re already seeing examples of this across red-state America. However, DeSantis will have shown its viability in a very narrowly divided and electorally crucial state. If somehow he is the GOP presidential nominee in 2024 — and wins the election — I have little doubt that he will head to Washington with the goal of replicating what he’s done in Florida. DeSantis has shown that he has no fealty to American democratic traditions and will pursue any course of action that will further his political ambitions. His politics represent a terrifying future for America, and by 2025 they could become a reality.
What’s Going On
It appears that a lot of congressional Republicans were fairly coup-curious.
Read the Washington Post’s Dan Balz’s blistering indictment of Kevin McCarthy for his cowardly capitulation to Donald Trump.
Arthur Goldhammer looks at the French election and thinks more conflict might be coming
Ian Millhiser says DeSantis’s Disney attack is clearly unconstitutional.
Gun violence in America is seemingly getting worse — and no one has a good answer.
It turns out the immunocompromised are at less risk from COVID than previously believed.
Elon Musk is paying $44 billion for Twitter, which barely makes $1 billion a year. Good luck with all that!
Workers at Starbucks stores continue to vote (overwhelmingly) in favor of unionization.
Musical Interlude
Seeing as I was in Europe on the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s Europe ‘72 tour, the band’s May 3 show at L’Olympia in Paris got a lot of play on my Airpods last week. You really cannot go wrong with a Europe ‘72 show, and this has some truly spectacular moments. Check out the “China Rider” in the middle of the first set. The opening interplay between Jerry, Bobby, and Phil is simply gorgeous. The “Other One” jam, which weaves into a “Me & Bobby McGee” and finishes with a beautiful “Wharf Rat,” is otherworldly.
The most dangerous person in America is the uninformed voter.
I completely agree with you regarding Governor DeSantis. He is a much more intelligent politician than Trump and someone who has the potential to be a grave danger to American democracy. I doubt if DeSantis will have any problem being reelected in Florida this November. His potential Democratic challengers certainly don't strike fear into the hearts of Republicans and the Governor has amassed a substantial war chest. God help the Republic if he (DeSantis) is somehow elected President in 2024.