Is Ron DeSantis The Black Angel of Death?
Or is he just another Republican sociopath with blood on his hands?
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, has descended to a jaw-dropping level of cynicism. At a news conference on Monday, he announced that if local governments in Florida impose vaccine mandates on their employees, he would fine them $5,000 for every worker. Then he stood silently by as Gainesville city employees made false claims about the mRNA vaccines that have saved countless lives during the pandemic.
Although the wave of illness from the delta variant appears to be receding in Florida, the state has suffered a terrible summer toll of hospitalizations and deaths. A governor facing such a cataclysm might naturally be expected to use all methods to keep people safe. Instead, Mr. DeSantis, an ally of former president Donald Trump, has for months been campaigning against mask and vaccine mandates and actively sought to prevent business, government and schools from imposing them. These are vital tools to save lives in the face of a highly transmissible disease, but the governor insists that everyone should have the right to make their own decision. He casts himself as a defender of personal freedom.
I’m as tired of writing about COVID-19 as I suspect you are of reading about it. I want more than anything to be able to move on to happier topics, but right now, we’re mired in the midst of a deadly pandemic, one that shows no signs of abating any time in the foreseeable future.
Of even greater concern is that Republican Governors- like Florida’s Ron DeSantis- are actively working to make matters worse. Gov. DeSantis, who’s militantly opposed mask mandates, particularly in schools, seems far more concerned with the “rights” and “personal freedoms” of Floridians than with their lives.
For some time now, Florida has been Ground Zero for COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. Yet Gov. DeSantis has continued to act as if nothing was amiss and that individual Floridians deserve to make their own decisions about whether they’ll wear a facemask and/or get vaccinated.
This isn’t and shouldn’t be a matter of “personal freedom.” Nor is Gov. DeSantis a defender of said personal freedom. No, he’s a self-interested sociopath concerned only for his only personal political prospects. Personal freedom isn’t a consideration when someone is hooked to a ventilator or, worse, has succumbed to COVID-19.
This is a favorite argument of Republican governors and others, including Mr. Trump, who last year amid lockdowns was tweeting “LIBERATE MICHIGAN” and other states. But personal freedom does not give an individual the right to hurt others. Those not wearing masks and refusing to get vaccinated are spreading the virus and overcrowding the nation’s hospitals. They are the majority of those who are dying. This is not freedom; it is recklessness.
America is suffering from a two-track pandemic: COVID-19 and stupidity/selfishness. Republicans like Gov. DeSantis have green-lighted selfishness, arrogance, and stupidity over believing that we are all our brother’s keeper. The decision to wear a mask and/or get vaccinated is not a “personal medical decision;” it impacts the wider community. One person who decides they won’t wear a mask or get vaccinated can spread the virus to everyone they encounter. Those people may also spread the virus to those they encounter, often without even knowing they’re carrying it.
Selfishness shouldn’t be an American value. Nor should arrogance and stupidity. Yet millions of Americans have decided that it’s not their responsibility to help protect their fellow Americans in one of this country's darkest hours. Their selfishness sends a big “F**K YOU!” to everyone they come into contact with. It proves that they care more for their own narrow self-interest than they do for their community.
Mr. DeSantis’s threat came in response to a policy by the city of Gainesville requiring that employees be vaccinated by the end of the month or be terminated, with exemptions for religious or medical reasons. More than 200 city employees filed a lawsuit seeking to strike down the mandate. “The vaccine changes your RNA, so for me that’s a problem,” said Darris Friend, a 22-year city employee who is the lead plaintiff. “We don’t want to have the vaccine. It’s about our freedom and liberty.” Mr. Friend’s assertion is wrong. The vaccines do not change RNA; they simply train the body’s immune system to fight the virus. Mr. DeSantis claims to favor vaccination. By aligning himself with such misinformation, he adds to the vaccine hesitancy that has become a major roadblock to greater immunity and ending the pandemic.
Of course, none of what Darris Friend says is true. He’s been seduced by the ignorance and the disinformation peddled by social media and the Right-wing media. Gov. DeSantis, who claims to favor vaccination himself, has a tremendous opportunity to educate his constituents and set the record straight. In doing so, he could even save some lives.
Unfortunately, he’s chosen to take the side of misinformation and dishonesty. Instead of rocking the boat and setting people like Darris Friend straight, his silence regarding disinformation increases the likelihood that more people will die needlessly.
There’s a greater force at work for Gov. DeSantis, of course. He’s a tremendously ambitious politician who harbors national political aspirations. He wants to be the next Donald Trump, and there’s every possibility that he’s a smarter version of 45. But there’s a time and place for pursuing that brass ring, and it’s not while untold thousands of your constituents are falling ill because of your grandstanding…and many of those are dying horrific deaths.
Now is the time for Gov. DeSantis to lead, to work for the common good. But, instead, he’s playing politics and positioning himself to run for President as a Conservative defender of freedom and liberty. That’s going to be a tough thing to do when voters and the fourth estate demand that he explain how he’ll run for President with all of the blood he has on his hands.
This isn’t the time for opportunism. Or enabling disinformation in the name of burnishing one’s political brand. Leaders need to lead in a time of crisis, which is what Gov. Ron DeSantis needs to be doing but isn’t. Floridians are falling ill and dying, in large part because their Governor is willfully peddling propaganda, falsehoods, and disinformation.
Ron DeSantis is a callous, heartless sociopath and opportunist intent on climbing to the Presidency over the dead bodies of his fellow Floridians.
Florida deserves better. America deserves better. And Ron DeSantis deserves a reserved parking space in Hell.
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