Chris Rufo, a rightwing culture-war celebrity and close Ron DeSantis ally, has maintained a close relationship with IM-1776, a “dissident right” magazine that regularly showers praise on dictators and authoritarians, puffs racist ideologues, and attacks liberal democracy.
The outlet’s editors and writers – many of them so-called “anons” working under pseudonyms – have variously advocated for the repeal of the Civil Rights Act; celebrated figures such as the “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski and the proto-fascist Italian nationalist Gabriele D’Annunzio; and advanced conspiracy theories about the Covid pandemic, and what they term the “regime”, a leftist power structure that they imagine unites the state, large corporations, universities and the media.
He might, but the fact that no one even bothers to ask those sort of questions of politicians like him is a bigger issue because of course he has an ally with ties like that. That’s just obvious.
But that’s the thing, some do, some have tried, DeSantis has a reputation for this stuff, he’s not going to face his critics, he can’t deal with criticism, I don’t think he’s a narcissist per se but he’s definitely not used to being questioned and absolutely doesn’t like it.
This goes into the article about his dating habits from before he was married, where he would purposely mispronounce “thai food” as “thigh food” and if the date corrected him in any way he would end the date. The guy can’t even face being challenged in his personal life, he for damn sure can’t deal with it on the big political stage.
I think that’s a little different from supporting the Unabomber though. But I almost guarantee you no one will ask him directly about that.
Criticism is criticism, whether it’s the Unabomber or weird dating hijinks, either way he’ll react very similarly, he will deny, deflect, project, and dismiss, because that is how his brain has evolved and adapted to handle criticism.
I’m not sure if you’re in Florida or not, but if you’re not you only get to see what makes national and international headlines, I live here and near one of the more critical local stations, Orlando has been a thorn in his side constantly and even moreso after the Disney mess he created for himself, so they really dig into his BS nearly every chance they get, while still not actually confronting him the way you want them to.
One of the reasons why we don’t challenge DeSantis as much as other governors here is because he’s shown that he is petty, he’s shown that he will cause problems for his critics, and he still seems to have a lot of support from some really crazy people here. So the thought of being one of his targets is a little scary, and he has the legislation in his pocket they will just create laws to justify his actions after the fact. Florida is currently a fascist state, we’ll see how well things go this next election, but I’ve been here for long enough to expect disappointment.
I admit I’m not in Florida, but I don’t agree that criticism is criticism. “Are you an asshole to women?” is a hugely different question to “do you support a terrorist?” A lot fewer people will care about “DeSantis is an asshole to women” than they will “DeSantis supports terrorism.”
But that’s the thing, DeSantis is knowingly supporting terrorism right now, one of his proxies is LibsofTiktok, aka Chaya Raichik, she’s been pushing stochastic terrorism and has been linked to several bombing attempts and threats. He also refuses to condemn Nazis as they threaten Jews at synagogues across the state, he’s even had Nazi iconography in his campaign ads and quietly fired/reassigned the person responsible for that. So Ron DeSantis is no stranger to supporting terrorism, he supports Nazis, Proud Boys, Putin, people banning and burning books, bullying gay and trans kids, so you can say he definitely supports terrorism from his actions.
You seem to think he’s going to change if confronted or modify his behavior, but bullies like him only change when they get their asses kicked, and who is going to be able to kick the ass of a governor who surrounds himself with lackeys willing to do his enemies harm? Police willing to arrest his foes? A political party that enables and supports this garbage behavior? DeSantis has no reason to change, even worse, he thinks we all need to change to conform to his worldview, and that’s what he is trying to do with what he’s removing from our schools from the elementary to the college level. He’s a Christian nationalist fascist, and some hard hitting questions aren’t going to change anything about that, they may even increase his support among conservatives.
I don’t think he’s going to change.
I think the press should have some balls and ask those questions rather than shy away from them whether or not it will change. You can’t honestly believe that hard questions shouldn’t be asked.
Of course i think hard questions should be asked, but again like I said in my first reply to you, he’s not going to answer, so why waste time? Why chance having your press credentials f’d with? Why chance right wing psychopaths trying to intimidate you? Especially when you already know he’s not going to answer.
You seem to still not be getting it, either that or you’re sealioning me, but I’m going to continue to treat you as sincere, but what you’re not getting is that this man does not do criticism under any circumstances, ffs he married his wife because she’s basically a pretty version of a “Yes man”. Any reporter who tries to show criticism will almost certainly be wasting their time, while also making a powerful enemy willing to cause them problems.
DeSantis is also going to avoid those instances where he may find himself at risk of hearing criticisms, this is just who he is, and believe me plenty of us have loads of questions and criticisms for him. I mean ffs he literally had one of his aides die in the hallway outside of his office, wouldn’t you think we’d want to know more about something like that? Yet he will never answer, because he knows he doesn’t have to, and he knows that he doesn’t actually care about anything except his and his agendas success. This guy is a Harvard law school grad, a veteran Navy officer who worked closely with the SEALS and Gitmo interrogators, he knows exactly what he’s doing and what type of people he’s consorting with, and like his role with the SEALS and Gitmo interrogators, he knows exactly what he can get away with.
You really need to come to terms with who you’re talking about and learn to understand him better, because he’s going to keep being a problem for all of us, and will continue to ignore, deflect, and project any criticism.
Okay, so who should the media ask the hard questions to if not people like state governors? I don’t understand why you think a non-answer is a non-story. Not responding to “do you support terrorism” is, in itself, a story.
But I really want to know who you think the media should ask hard questions to.