Sleepwalking Towards Authoritarianism
Ron DeSantis and the Perils of “Anti-Woke” Populism
By Kevin Howley. March 15, 2023
It’s just a matter of time until Florida Governor Ron DeSantis formally launches his campaign for president. In the meantime, the 2024 GOP race seems to be in a holding pattern with the twice-impeached former president, his onetime UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, and conservative activist Vivek Ramaswamy the only declared candidates.
Not to worry. Before you can say the Capitol Insurrection was “mostly peaceful chaos” a crowded field of GOP hopefuls, headlined by a who’s who of former Trump officials, will be tripping all over themselves appealing to the Republican base and glad-handing big money donors.
We got a sneak preview of the upcoming primary season earlier this month when formal and would-be candidates appeared at two competing events: the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and the Club For Growth’s private donor meeting.
Despite all the hot air, not much has changed in the Republican primary race. DeSantis remains the favorite to challenge the Donald for the GOP nomination. For a Trump-weary public, this might come as good news. But as the saying goes, every silver lining has a dark cloud.
Censorship as Education Reform
Last week, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law an “education reform” bill with the profoundly ironic name AR LEARNS. The new law makes Arkansas “the third state to enact a universal school choice program.” Speaking to the Washington Examiner, Jason Bedrick, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, gleefully noted: “Education choice is winning in 2023, and it’s even on track to outpace the unprecedented school choice progress of 2021.”
Given the sway of conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation on the GOP’s policy agenda, red state legislatures have either passed or are considering similar measures in places like Oklahoma, Texas, and, of course, Florida. As are House Republicans, under the banner of “parents’ rights” – a euphemism for school privatization, voucher programs, and a reactionary overhaul of school curricula, and the centerpiece of Ron DeSantis’ contribution to America’s interminable culture wars.
DeSantis may be riding a wave, but in many respects he has become the national poster boy for parents’ rights, thanks to a Republican supermajority in Tallahassee that helped him pass last year’s “Parental Rights in Education Act,” the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill aimed at stifling classroom discussion of “controversial” issues like sexuality and gender identity.
It’s part of a broader, long running conservative-led education “reform” effort designed to deny the country’s history of structural racism, discredit climate science, and otherwise dumb down the culture, all in the name of “parents’ choice.” This from a political party that spent half a century agitating in state legislatures, the courts, and the streets to deny women choice over their own bodies.
Canceler-in-Chief
Among potential GOP nominees, DeSantis has garnered the lion’s share of press coverage; some of it positive– and a great deal of it on Fox News. Tellingly, DeSantis scrupulously avoids speaking directly with reporters outside the friendly confines of the right wing echo chamber.
After all, his culture warrior image appeals to the Republican base, while his status as “Trump without the baggage” could sway moderate voters.
Of course, DeSantis’ fortunes may change, but at the moment he’s got game: name recognition, well-heeled donors, intense media coverage – if not critical scrutiny – and a winning, if somewhat threadbare rallying cry: “Florida is where woke goes to die.”
But for all his remonstrations against the “radical left” and his oft-repeated disdain for “cancel culture,” DeSantis’ brand of extremism is genuinely disturbing. The Florida governor has made no secret of his capacity for crass opportunism, press intimidation, and political payback. For instance, like fellow red state extremist, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, DeSantis had no qualms about using asylum seekers as political pawns in his bid to generate press attention and burnish his anti-immigrant cred.
And, like his main rival for the 2024 Republican nomination, DeSantis enjoys bullying journalists. Consider high profile events like last month’s “roundtable discussion” on the news media where he called on the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the landmark New York Times v Sullivan case that protect reporters from defamation lawsuits.
Then there’s his anti-woke campaign against corporations, most notably Disney, that take welcome, if long overdue baby steps toward creating more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces. Like “election reform” and “parents’ choice,” doing battle against DEI initiatives is red meat for the MAGA crowd. Dangerous as Trump is in 2024, DeSantis is more calculating and cunning than his rival.
If DeSantis triumphs in the GOP primaries, it’s plain to see that he’ll continue his canceling crusade against the “woke mob” and any opponent for that matter – political or otherwise – who dares to challenge his authoritarian ways.
Kevin Howley is a writer and educator whose work has appeared in Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, Social Movement Studies, and Interactions: Studies in Communication and Culture. His most recent book is Drones: Media Discourse and the Public Imagination.
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DeSantis’ brand of extremism is genuinely disturbing. The Florida governor has made no secret of his capacity for crass opportunism, press intimidation, and political payback. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
