Like with the former president, there is such a deluge of outrageous news coming out of Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Republicans that it is impossible to cover it all. This is intentional. It creates free media coverage and bonds supporters with their corrupt leaders by weaving a web of shared lies. However, much of this news also has major consequences. Republicans' iron-fisted control of the executive and legislative branches in Florida, as well as the fact that gubernatorial powers often exceed presidential powers (such as the line-item veto power in Florida), has led CNN's Maeve Reston to label the administration of Ron DeSantis as an "imperial governorship."
One of the recent events in the executive branch is that Florida's Secretary of State, Laurel M. Lee, resigned on May 12, 2022. She has now launched a campaign for Congress. To replace her, Governor DeSantis has appointed State Representative Cord Byrd. This is part of a long line of radical appointments that includes propagandist Christina Pushaw as Press Secretary and Dr. Joseph Ladapo as Surgeon General. Byrd's spouse has spewed radical, right-wing rhetoric in public, including supporting the January 6, 2021 insurrection and stating:
"In the coming civil wars (We the People vs the Radical Left and We the People cleaning up the Republican Party), team rosters are being filled ... Every elected official in DC will pick one. There are only 2 teams… With Us [or] Against Us. ... We the People will NOT forget!” – Esther Byrd
Mr. Byrd himself has been spotted sporting a QAnon flag on a boat with his wife and has supported the QAnon conspiracy theories in public statements, which are mainly organized around the fabrication that Donald Trump was anointed president to defeat a cabal of Satanist cannibal pedophiles who allegedly control our nation. Now, Secretary Byrd is making statements defending his wife as a freedom-loving patriot, and Governor DeSantis has stated: "I think Cord has been very, very strong in terms of wanting election integrity, and so we’re going to be off to the races, I think, very, very quickly. He’s going to do a really, really good job, and I’m excited for him to get to work.” We should notice that despite his advanced education, DeSantis has adjusted his vocabulary over the years to emulate his mentor, Donald Trump, with repetition of simple words instead of nuanced language (e.g., "very, very" and "really, really good").
This is no minor gubernatorial appointment. In Florida, the Secretary of State encompasses the Florida Division of Elections, which implements elections laws and oversees the 67 offices of the Supervisors of Elections for Florida's 67 counties. State Representative Anna Eskamani of Orlando argues that Byrd is being rewarded for voting for Governor DeSantis' congressional maps that eliminate black districts and egregiously tilt the map for Republicans, stating: “Terrible appointment — not only is it an ‘award’ to Rep. Byrd for voting w/the Governor (including on UNCONSTITUTIONAL MAPS!) but Byrd has supported partisan bills that place barriers to voting and has verbally assaulted Democratic members in the legislature too."
As the new Secretary of State, Byrd will oversee the upcoming August and November 2022 elections in Florida, will work to defend the governor's gerrymandered congressional maps to attempt to deliver the United States House of Representatives to Republicans and be wielded as a talking point for the governor's future presidential campaign, and will establish and oversee the new Office of Election Crimes and Security that includes an elections police force accountable directly to the governor.
This appointment and everything else we are seeing in Florida should raise alarm bells. It closely resembles the power-grabbing moves of autocrats who have transformed democracies into dictatorships throughout modern history. This growing threat must be repudiated, protested, and countered. We must vote in numbers like never before to stop it. In 2020, 77% of eligible Florida voters voted in November, which was the highest since 1992, but still means that more than 1 of 5 eligible Floridians didn't bother to vote—and in the August 2020 election, where many candidates are chosen or eliminated (including nonpartisan races), only 28% of eligible Floridians voted. In 2022, let's do better. Please make arrangements today to vote in August and November.
Register to vote here:
https://registertovoteflorida.gov/home
You should also visit your county Supervisor of Elections office, call, or go on their website to enroll or re-enroll (required each 2 years) in voting by mail—and you can still vote in-person instead if you choose to (bring the mail ballot with you to be shredded if voting in person—not technically required, but encouraged).
–
Notes:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/22/politics/governor-desantis-imperial-governorship-analysis/index.html
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/526852-esther-cord/
https://www.dos.myflorida.com/elections/data-statistics/elections-data/voter-turnout/
https://dos.myflorida.com/elections/for-voters/voting/vote-by-mail/