A couple of weeks ago, someone I don't personally know asked me on the internet why Democrats hate Donald trump and Ron DeSantis so much. Well, here we go...
It's because--among other things--they want to strangle Lady Liberty and have their voters, supporters and pols run America according to their politics, priorities and policies. They know they can’t win National elections any more without gaming the system, so they’d be fine with instituting permanent rule of a minority over the majority of Americans who want no part of their bankrupt, extreme and backward-looking policies.
Free and fair democratic elections? Don’t want ‘em. Making sure that every American who’s qualified and eligible to vote can vote? Nah, voting is just for their supporters. Working constructively with Democrats to get the business of America done and done in a timely fashion? No, that might give a Democratic President a win, therefore harming them and neutralizing their policies and their effectiveness because governing is a zero sum game.
They don’t care about the welfare of the country as a whole. Just “their people”. Do they want to preserve American democracy so it can be passed down to our children and grandchildren? No, because as I said above, that would mean sharing power and competing for the approval and votes of all Americans.
If faced with a choice between sharing power or killing off democracy, they’d gladly do the latter. Trump’s already tried it and DeSantis has shown again and again that letting his extreme buddies, lobbyists and pols have all the access, all the consideration and all the power in the State where he wields the power of the Governor’s office is just the way it’s done while he is in control.
His number 2 priority is putting in place all his extreme policies and remaking the State of Florida by passing one extreme law after another. Not to mention his use of executive orders and simply bullying into submission anyone who opposes his policies or he simply doesn’t like.
His number 1 priority is to stomp on everyone and everything that stands in his way. This can be individuals or even business entities. He’s now trying his dead-level best to bully Disney into submission because their former CEO said publically that they oppose one of his pet laws. He has even said as much. More than once. And the way he’s doing it is a clear violation of the company’s First Amendment rights.
In that way, trump and DeSantis are just alike. They expend ridiculous amounts of their time and energy thinking of ways to wield their power to harass, discredit and punish their perceived enemies.
The other important way in which they’re alike is that both of them think that completely ignoring the Democrats and essentially setting up one-party rule is a viable option. Either one would do it in a heartbeat. As I mentioned before, trump has already tried killing off our democracy and DeSantis has been signaling from Day One that he’s more than capable of doing it. I’m quite sure that if he should ever be elected President, he’d be much more effective at uprooting democracy than trump because he’s more pragmatic, more competent and way less stupid than our former Moron-in-Chief.
It’s not hard to see why Democrats strongly dislike both of them, more than we do most other QOP pols who also have hateful, divisive and extreme policies. They both love power—getting it and holding on to it at all cost—more than bringing the Country together or governing effectively or preserving our democratic institutions.
Those are, in fact, the priorities of the Democratic Party. And trump, DeSantis and others of their ilk are trying as hard as they can to stamp them out.
"Bulldog Ben" Basile
© 2023 Ben Lawrence Basile
