NYT: My Fellow Liberals Are Exaggerating the Dangers of Ron DeSantis

[tenderfoot]

from the same paper that tried to convince us that Trump wouldn't be that bad...

Exaggerating the threat posed by the Florida governor could inadvertently increase Mr. Trump’s prospects in the Republican primaries. And if Mr. DeSantis does get the nomination, progressive overreaction toward him in the primary contest could ultimately undermine the case against him in the general election.

The case against Mr. DeSantis is rooted in his policy commitments. During his time as Florida’s chief executive, he has governed from the hard right, taking aggressive aim at voting rights, pursuing politicized prosecutions, restricting what can be taught in public schools and universities, strong-arming private businesses, using refugees as human props to score political points and engaging in flagrant demagogy about vaccines. Before that, as a congressman, he supported cuts to Social Security and Medicare and voted for a bill that would have severely weakened Obamacare. All of that provides ample reason to rally against him should he end up as the Republican nominee in 2024.

But none of it makes Mr. DeSantis worse than Mr. Trump, who also did and sought to do bad things in office: the Muslim travel ban, forcibly separating migrants from their children, and much else.

Could the Trump era have been worse? Absolutely, and here liberals have a point when they suggest Mr. Trump’s ability to wreak havoc was limited by his ineptness. Based on what we’ve seen of Mr. DeSantis’s performance as governor of Florida, a DeSantis administration would likely display much greater discipline and competence than what the country endured under Mr. Trump.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/27/opinion/desantis-trump-president-comparison.html

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

The author Damon Linker:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

What a troll

[Ocelot II]

1. It's just an opinion, and you know what they say about opinions...

[tenderfoot]

3. The author isn't remotely "liberal"

Just another "why you mad?" troll.

[Effete Snob]

7. Ding, ding, ding

No more calls, we have a winner.

[RAB910]

14. I studied his Twitter feed and you are 100% correct

[temporary311]

4. That some people

should keep their opinions to themselves, like the fool who wrote this article.

[Ocelot II]

8. I do not agree with this person's opinion.

But he's got every right to express it, just as we all do. I'm not at all in favor of suppressing opinions I disagree with. Why not write a LTTE explaining why you think he's wrong?

[Lonestarblue]

30. I submitted a comment on this piece about why I thought he was wrong.

It was not published even though I said nothing negative about the writer, just why I thought DeSantis would be worse than Trump because he is just as corrupt but smarter.

I respect the right os people to have opinions. I don’t respect that a national publication like the NYT gives a platform so often to people promoting not specific policies, whether conservative or liberal, but essentially hawking a politician.

[dpibel]

43. A letter to the editor!

Why did no one think of this??

That surely has the same impact as an NYT op-ed!!1!

The NYT makes editorial decisions every day about what to publish and what not to. That is not censorship. It is not a First Amendment issue.

Saying, "The NYT should not have published this drivel," is not about suppressing opinions.

He can express his opinion all over the internet. He can come to DU and express it.

If the NYT doesn't publish it, that's not suppressing in any real-world sense of the term.

[Ocelot II]

54. So it's a stupid opinion. NYT has regular columnists whose usual opinions are,

in my opinion, at least as stupid. They have David Brooks, Ross Douthat and Bret Stephens, to name a few. They also have some very good ones, like Charles Blow, Paul Krugman and Jamelle Bouie. I just don't like the idea of somebody deciding someone else's opinion is stupid so no major newspaper should publish it. Who decides? Why can't NYT's readers be left to make up their own minds? I don't want opinions pre-censored.

[dpibel]

60. The NYT makes that decision

every bleeding day.

The NYT's readers are not left to make up their own minds.

The NYT decides that most writers' ideas are stupid so the paper of record should not publish them.

Write an op-ed and send it to the NYT. When they decide not to publish it, does that mean they're suppressing your voice?

When the NYT selects an op-ed for publication, it's not that it's suppressing the voices of all the other writers who wanted to get printed in the NYT. It's that the NYT is electing to elevate the voice of that particular writer.

And there's not a thing wrong with people, on this highly influential discussion site, or anywhere else, saying that the NYT chose badly and should not have published the ravings of this particular clown.

[Effete Snob]

6. Senior fellow at UPenn

...lives in a cozy place in the upscale Philly suburbs.

Come on Ocelot, an old well-off white guy is not bothered by someone who targets LGBTQ+, minorities, etc., so why should anyone be concerned?

[Effete Snob]

2. Well-off older white guy is comfortable with governor who does not target well-off older white guys

Film at eleven.

[sarcasmo]

5. Florida is the trial run for Dictator Ron.

[Rebl2]

48. Yup

[FakeNoose]

9. Most people in NY find it hard to believe that anyone outside of Floriduh would vote for DeSantis

I'm in Pennsylvania and I pretty much think the same ... he'd carry maybe 5 states. But I don't believe he'd win the party nomination so this is really a moot point.

However ... THIS that's printed in the NEW YORK TIMES makes me want to barf:

Based on what we’ve seen of Mr. DeSantis’s performance as governor of Florida, a DeSantis administration would likely display much greater discipline and competence than what the country endured under Mr. Trump.

[Fiendish Thingy]

28. Greater discipline and competence- that's what I'm afraid of. Nt

[EleanorR]

33. Desantis will be more efficient and competent at spreading fascism nationwide

That's his argument?

Desantis will do exactly what highly organized radical right crazies like ALEC, Heritage, the Mercers, the Kochs tell him to do, unlike trump who always has his own self-interest front and center. And that is why Desantis is far more dangerous than trump ever was.

[CTyankee]

72. I've been sounding the alarm on this guy for a while now.

He has dreams of being a dictator, IMO. And I don't think he'll stop at anything. However, that said, he might just overstep. Would be dictators often do, but after they bring about massive pain and destruction.

[mjvpi]

41. Bingo

[Cha]

10. & the same paper that Pounded the

Drums for War on Iraq & Underplayed the Protests on Feb 15, 2003 when the World Said NO to War.

deSadist is A Danger to the World. like dt

TY Retweeted.

[dalton99a]

15. And singlehandedly manufactured the Hillary email scandal

and pushed it relentlessly throughout her presidential campaign - to Trump's benefit

[Cha]

19. The NYT has So Much BLOOD on their hands.

and it all Blew Up in their Fascist Humping Face.

And, the World's.

[dpibel]

45. That's a recent event in a long history

The NYT, after all, pretty much wished the Whitewater "scandal" into being.

Not to mention their hard work on Dubya's behalf in the run up to Dubya's Big War.

[dalton99a]

51. +1. No one should forget the NYT's role in Whitewater

[gab13by13]

11. IMO, there may be a shift to DeSantis,

this may very well be an attempt to minimize the dangers of a Ron DeSantis presidency, to quell everyone's worries, just like the right wing narrative to not worry, indictments and convictions are on the way for Trump and his inner circle.

I believe, well, I have heard rumors, that Fox and Putin have thrown their support behind DeSantis.

[Takket]

12. Love how they say "progressive overreaction"

And then literally list of all the horrible shit he has done. No one is overreacting. We’re just pointing out all the shit he has done.

[JHB]

18. The road to facism is paved with admonishments of "you're overreacting"

[In It to Win It]

13. I'm not the type to exagerrate about anything. Ron DeSantis is fucking nuts.

coming from a native Floridian.

[Boomerproud]

16. Not an intellectual are you Mr. Linker.

We've already been through the train wreck (more than a few folks did not survive) and there is clearly another one coming and you want us to ignore it?!

[The Magistrate]

17. Does It Make Him Look Wise, Ma'am?

Does he seem serene and above all the petty concerns of lesser lights, whom he can lead to rise above themselves as he has done?

Like a lot of these sorts, really he's just writing for an audience of one, and the reviews he gets in the mirror, well, in all modesty, they're grrrrreat!

[Kaleva]

20. Magahats hate DeSantis

Last edited Mon Feb 27, 2023, 04:50 PM - Edit history (1)

Because they know he could beat their orange god in the primary. People here fear DeSantis because they believe he could beat Biden in the general.

Otherwise, nobody would be paying attention to him.

[tenderfoot]

21. From the same author

Link to tweet

[Ray Bruns]

22. Damon Linker, August 1939: why are liberals always putting down Adolf Hitler.

He’s just trying to make Germany great again.

[dalton99a]

26. +1. At worst, the corporal is an entertaining clown

Please do not overreact

[bringthePaine]

23. NYT useless rag since Judy Miller/"yellowcake" BS - stone liars, fuck 'em entirely, DeScumbag too

[dalton99a]

24. Damon Linker is a fucking troll

https://archive.ph/bwdma

[Oneironaut]

25. Surely they'll never overturn Roe v. Wade! Stop being alarmist!

[UTUSN]

27. So his long catalog of long, but partial, horrible things Drumpf/deSATAN did & will do aren't

exaggerations?!

[jcgoldie]

29. I mean that second paragraph???

"I don't know why you overreacting to Ron DeSantis all he does is eat babies alive and shoot puppies in a barrel..."

[MayReasonRule]

44. DeSantis is guilty of crimes against humanity along with the entire GOP.

Period.

[Irish_Dem]

31. What kind of drugs do you have to take to think DeSantis is harmless?

[rubbersole]

34. Vicodin and dog tranquilizers washed down with single malt scotch.

[Irish_Dem]

37. That would probably do it. :(

[rubbersole]

38. So I've heard...

[Irish_Dem]

52. I was once on Fentanyl and Vicodin in the hospital.

I had a serious fall down some stairs and fractured my spine in several places,
had extensive surgery to pin it all back together.
There were some complications and it was quite painful.

The Vicodin was making me quite loopy but I was still in pain so the doctor put me on fentanyl which completely knocked me out. My daughter was there when they gave me the fentanyl in my IV. I remember none of this.

She said I was talking to her normally and then when the Fentanyl hit, I just passed out. Like I was dead.
She is a nurse practitioner so took my pulse and I was still alive.

I came to about six hours later and begged them never to give me fentanyl again.
I have no idea why people would take this recreationally.

Vicodin, doggie tranqs, and booze would probably kill me.

[rubbersole]

65. As it would most people.

Stephanie Miller Show used to have a little recorded 'jingle' where a female voice would say 'I should stop taking my dog's tranquilizers with red wine'...always placed after she quoted some asinine rw behavior. I used it a couple of times but people thought I was serious. So I broke out a version to alarm DUers!

[Irish_Dem]

66. LOL I thought I had heard it somewhere else....

Love Stephanie, but just started watching her.
Never saw the older shows.

[MayReasonRule]

49. Delusion is the strongest drug. No need to swallow. Just "believe"...

..don't 'cha know...

[Irish_Dem]

53. Propaganda of any sort is the opiate of the masses.

[MayReasonRule]

64. We agree. Indeed, that is truth.

Machiavellian propaganda leads the Darwin Award winners down the proverbial primrose path.

It used to be that way.
It still is.

But, it used to be that way too...

Same as it ever was.

May reason rule.

[Carlitos Brigante]

32. Could've just titled it "Look At Me and How "reasonable" I am. And Why Both Sides are the Same..."nt

[Lettuce Be]

35. Maybe he's not considered a threat because he's really a giant turd and going to sink

Couldn't think of a great analogy for sinking things but he is a turd and he will sink.

[betsuni]

36. "How do you do, fellow liberals?"

[Kid Berwyn]

39. Linker Is Foaming the Runway for Hitler

Preparing the proles for what the Rich and Powerful want us to think is inevitable.

Fuck that and them.

[FelineOverlord]

40. Damon Linker

Swears he’s a Democratic centrist and has only voted for Democrats since 2002. Although he thinks Reagan was “pretty good.”

He and the NYT Pitchbot are not getting along. 😂

Link to tweet

🤣

Link to tweet

[keep_left]

63. Linker is definitely *not* a centrist. He had a falling out years ago with the far-right.

He would probably be considered one of the original "Reagan Democrats", though he's too young for that (he's a Gen Xer). Basically what happened is that he worked for years in the conservative Catholic think-tank milieu, in particular at a right-wing Catholic journal, First Things, which started going further and further radtrad. At some point, they really started crossing the line into something close to sedition and flirting with the alt-right, whining about "cultural degeneracy", etc. Linker decided that he'd had enough; his "J'accuse!" moment came in a widely publicized open letter to First Things.

The whole incident was covered in detail in Linker's book The Theocons.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/theocons-damon-linker/1100617844

Linker is a gifted writer, and unlike many conservatives, he actually does his homework when it comes to historical research and supporting his assertions. However, he would be regarded as a very conservative Democrat. The only part of "liberal" that would seem to apply to Linker is "neoliberal".

[FelineOverlord]

73. Linker and Pitchbot are still fighting 😂😂😂

Link to tweet

[MayReasonRule]

42. One of the largest values of history, is that it teaches us how things, do-not-happen!

It is precisely this kind of awareness that the delusionally paranoid fail to develop. They have a special resistance of their own of course, towards developing such awareness; a.k.a willful-ignorance. Additionally, circumstances may often deprive them of exposure to events that might enlighten them—and in any case they resist enlightenment through their aforementioned, willful-ignorance.

We are all sufferers from history.

Those delusionally paranoid are double sufferers. They are afflicted not only by the reality of the real world, with the rest of us, but additionally by their delusionally paranoid fantasies.

I'm referencing those that embrace the delusions of the undying love of the hard-core "believers", their unshakeable "faith" in the fools and the dreamers, a holy devotion to "sins" of-the-ages.

All because, they've been "hymned" in by shame.

May reason rule.

[Chainfire]

46. The biggest difference in DeSantis and Hitler is that

Hitler was better looking.

[Cha]

47. deSadist is Trying Hard to Erase

African Americans & LBGQT people in Fascist Florida.. among all his other Fascist Fuckery.

That's Way Past Cause For ALARM!

[Conjuay]

50. "All the News that fits, we print"

I was a bambino when I first heard that. Nothing has changed in 60 years.

[canuckledragger]

55. Which means he's even more dangerous than we believed.

When you have lying right-wing hacks trying to downplay the dangers of one of theirs... that's the time to keep your eyes open.

Reminds me of a another right-wing rag that claimed Paul Ryan had a reputation for honesty before one of the presidential debates...just to learn his real problem is telling the truth.

[liberalmediaaddict]

56. The NYT is the leader of poorly framed headlines

The road to fascism is filled with people telling you to stop overreacting.

[Hekate]

59. Those who are abused can recite the abuser's mantra while being slapped: "Don't be hysterical"

[Hekate]

57. 🎶 Put it on the ground, spread it all around, dig it with a hoe, it'll make the flowers grow 🎶

That is a large truck of barnyard detritus.

[peggysue2]

58. The author of this OP unravels his argument in the last paragraph, particularly the last sentence

Could the Trump era have been worse? Absolutely, and here liberals have a point when they suggest Mr. Trump’s ability to wreak havoc was limited by his ineptness. Based on what we’ve seen of Mr. DeSantis’s performance as governor of Florida, a DeSantis administration would likely display much greater discipline and competence than what the country endured under Mr. Trump.

Which is why liberals are screaming/warning about the wanna-be autocrat in Florida. DeSantis is educated. He's neither unaware nor ignorant. He's more disciplined. Fortunately, he's about as charismatic as a slug.

But like Trump the man has the same ambition to strangle the Federal government and play 'My Way or the Highway' as his organizing principle.

Linker is just taking up space with this piece. He fails to convince, even himself.

[hibbing]

61. yeah, just relax, it's just a pinch of fascism n/t

[LudwigPastorius]

62. "My Fellow Liberals Are Exaggerating The...

Danger Of Ron DeSantis”

[ecstatic]

67. That is disgusting. Not worse than trump? Is that the standard now?

Both "men" are terrible, undemocratic and DANGEROUS options. Both men have shown that they are willing to kill and/or endanger millions of people for political expediency. desantis and trump make the country weaker, not stronger. Both men need to be stopped ASAP.

desantis, like trump, is using tax dollars to punish anyone who disagrees with him. Under desantis rule, a child in Russia or China would know more about US history than Americans do. Bottom line: An educated populace is key in a democracy. It should alarm everyone when a politician attempts to cancel history.

[vapor2]

68. Would you call Ron's stance

against Disney and his book banning disciplined and competent ? Asking for a friend.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

69. "I wrote this article..."

"I'm right and you're all wrong. So there."

That's a simplification of his response in that thread, but that's his general stance.

[Hekate]

70. DeSantis has the potential to be far worse than TFG partly bcs he actually has government experience

[Timeflyer]

71. From the FL front lines--DeSantis will end US democracy. He must never be POTUS.