by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I like to say that if every election your nation have is existential, then maybe you’re not really a democracy anymore. Well, there are so many would-be autocrats running around within Republican ranks at the moment who would throttle American democracy once elected that it’s hard to manage them all.
But the one that my Traditionalist relatives love, love, love, love is Ron DeSantis, to the point that they tell me in a very snarky, asshole way that they want to “vote for him three times” when the time comes.
The reason DeSantis (and to some extent Tucker Carlson) is so dangerous is he is far smoother than Trump. He’s an opportunist. Trump was a stress test on our democratic institutions and they failed. A lot. So all DeSantis has to do is just get elected and the rest takes care of itself. The Republican Party is fascist and they will be more than happy to pass enabling acts that will allow DeSantis to purge the government of the “deep state.” They will look the other way when he threatens the broadcast licenses of major media companies and, a such, neuters them.
At the moment, follow is pretty much a foregone conclusion. DeSantis becomes president, becomes our first autocrat changes the Constitution via a Constitutional Convention and weaponizes ICE along the way. That’s it. That’s America’s future.
In fact, I would go so far as to say the only reason why I have any doubt that this is, in fact, our future is I can’t predict the future and it hasn’t happened yet. Otherwise, it’s just reality that is in the future.
So, what could go wrong?
The most obvious obstacle with Generation DeSantis becoming a reality is Trump. If Trump refuses to step aside and DeSantis manages to draw first blood, then all the other would-be autocrats lurking around would jump on Trump, too.
Then the best DeSantis can hope for is to be Trump’s veep. He would still be very well positioned to be our first true autocrat. BUT, we have to remember that Trump is so stupid and lazy that he could, single-handedly start a civil war at some point in late 2024 – early 2025.
So, on one hand, we have an autocratic DeSantis future and on the other we have civil war.
