Why a President Ron DeSantis is actually far worse than President Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s 51% haul of Iowa Caucus votes made for a strong headline.

But the footnotes tell a different story.

Only about 15% of registered Iowa Republican voters participated in the caucus, and, given that they ventured outdoors when it was 30 degrees below zero wind chill, they likely skewed fanatical.

As Trump extolled his base to show up, even if it literally cost them their lives, many sensible (read: moderate) voters stayed home. And yet, half of the caucus-goers who risked frostbite to participate cast their votes for someone other than Trump.

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Most importantly, in an exit poll sure to keep Ronna McDaniel up at night, 31% of those who voted said they would no longer consider Trump fit for office if he is convicted of a felony.

Which brings us to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Trump’s likelihood of conviction elevates the importance of second place

While Trump’s coronation as 2024 Republican Party presidential nominee seems inevitable today, it’s not.

Trump faces 91 felony charges across four separate criminal cases. The fusillade of recorded evidence makes it highly probable that Trump will be convicted in one of the 2020 election obstruction cases; the question is when.

If Trump is convicted before the nomination process concludes, or if the 77-year-old former president’s strain to bully judges in their own courtroom sparks, say, an aneurysm, the Republican Party will be forced to elevate the next candidate in line.

When Trump is convicted, the calculus will shift. All bets will be off on what or who comes next, because the Republican National Committee’s rules are ambiguous on whether states can change their votes in primaries and caucuses.

It depends on whether it would be deemed “in the best interests of the Republican Party,” meaning, if it’s clear Trump can’t get elected.

As bad as Trump is, DeSantis is far, far worse

For Nikki Haley, twin primary losses in New Hampshire and South Carolina — her home state — will effectively end her campaign and reveal her to be the non-viable, not-MAGA-enough candidate she is.

And while many conservatives are writing DeSantis’ political epitaph, the specter of a DeSantis presidency, however remote it may seem at present, looms large, compelling more daylight (as well as disinfectant) on his extremism.

As the leader of the nation’s third-most-populous state, DeSantis punches down on women, gays, blacks and immigrants, as does Trump, but DeSantis’ zealotry is laser-focused.

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Where Trump speaks in third-grade parlance, DeSantis is Harvard and Yale articulate. Where Trump flails under lack of management skills, DeSantis rules Florida with a disciplined iron fist. Where Trump is a toddler begging for attention, DeSantis is a dark infection spreading his burning hatred of minorities among school boards, corporate boards and local units of government, brokering no dissent.

DeSantis is running for president on a promise to “destroy leftism.” Civil rights abuses in Florida are so severe under DeSantis that the NAACP, the Human Rights Campaign, the League of United Latin American Citizens and Equality Florida each issued separate Florida travel and relocation warnings to their constituent members.

His gubernatorial resume includes a six-week abortion ban, an excessive number of banned books, repeated attacks on drag shows, cruel immigration publicity stunts, criminalized gender care, encouragement to carry concealed guns, climate denial, and illegally persecuted political opponents.

Ever-so-respectfully awaiting Trump’s felony conviction (or aneurism, or heart attack, or psychotic breakdown so explosive Marjorie Taylor Greene would call it messianic), DeSantis’ weapons of hatred remain locked and loaded.

DeSantis hates academic freedom

DeSantis often brags that “Florida is where WOKE goes to die.” Under his signature Stop WOKE law, a dystopian exercise in thought control, DeSantis tried to dictate the words and manner in which race, gender and history can be discussed in public schools and higher education settings.

Although parts of Stop WOKE are blocked, DeSantis-appointed boards now control topics, course materials and lectures, not only through high school, but at the college level. Faculty departures have increased measurably, because of faculty perceptions of “open hostility to professors and to higher education more generally.”

As the American Association of University Professors warned last week on X, “What we are witnessing in Florida is an intellectual reign of terror ... People are intellectually and physically scared. We (gay, black, trans or left-leaning professors) are being named an enemy of the State.”

DeSantis hates the First Amendment

A federal judge, Gregory Presnell, also blocked enforcement of DeSantis’ drag show ban as overly broad and unconstitutionally vague and “dangerously susceptible to standardless, overbroad enforcement which could sweep up substantial protected speech…”

Intentionally misnamed the “Protection of Children Act,” the drag ban was designed to intimidate gay-friendly businesses under threat of fines, loss of operating licenses, and criminal penalties if their shows expose a “child” to “lewd” performances, never mind that many parents choose to take their kids to drag brunch and drag queen story hour, or that “lewd” could mean almost anything to some tobacco-chewing Panhandle sheriff.

The judge found that Florida’s justification that the law was enacted to protect children “rings hollow when accompanied by the knowledge that Florida state law… permits any minor to attend an R-rated film at a movie theater if accompanied by a parent or guardian. Such R-Rated films routinely convey content at least as objectionable” as drag shows.

DeSantis hates the media

DeSantis has long sparred with journalists who criticize him. His Tallahassee sycophants recently flexed their hyper-majority state control by trying to make it easier to sue them.

Their bill attempts to remove the right of journalists and media entities to keep their sources anonymous. Under the bill, statements made by anonymous sources would be legally considered "presumptively false," subjecting journalists to liability, and the heightened threat of lawsuits, unless they reveal (and jeopardize) their sources of information on topics such as governmental corruption and political malfeasance.

The bill would also make it easier for DeSantis’ right-wing school board members to sue for defamation if someone expresses the opinion that they are racists, homophobic or transphobic. Converting these claims to defamation per se — which presumes damages and eliminates the requirement of intent — is an unprecedented attempt to silence critics. Even after a court strikes it down as unconstitutional, the residual chilling effect will remain.

DeSantis hates Mickey Mouse

DeSantis is already executing Trump’s promise to weaponize government resources to punish political adversaries. He remains obsessed with persecuting the Disney corporation, Florida’s mega-employer, in retaliation for publicly disagreeing with his “Don’t Say Gay” law. (Side note: DeSantis got married at Disney World.)

After Disney’s CEO criticized DeSantis for outlawing the discussion of sexual orientation in the classroom, DeSantis yanked control of Reedy Creek governance from Disney, and gave control to a DeSantis-appointed tourism board, leading Disney to cancel $1 billion in planned Orlando investments. DeSantis claims Reedy Creek, a governing body that oversaw Disney property, was a benefit Disney was never really entitled to, so the state could take it away for any reason.

DeSantis, a Harvard lawyer, either failed First Amendment 101, or deliberately misrepresents it. The Supreme Court ruled decades ago that the government is not allowed to take away government benefits in retaliation for disfavored political speech — ever — even if the government was never obligated to provide the benefits in the first place.

Most of all, DeSantis hates gays

Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law bans all K-12 classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity, regardless of circumstance or context. DeSantis used oppressive tactics to generate support for the law, calling it an “anti-grooming” bill. His press secretary sneered, “If you’re against the Anti-Grooming bill, you are probably a groomer,” (i.e. pedophile).

The gay and transgender community now considers Florida one of the most inhospitable places to live. Florida passed more anti-LGBTQ+ laws in 2023 than in the combined seven years prior, solidifying DeSantis’ appeal to Christian nationalists, many of whom will switch their support to him if Trump is eliminated for whatever reason.

DeSantis’ nonstop attacks on minorities, the press and political critics are unmatched in history; his “freedom lives in Florida” campaign slogan a cynical insiders’ joke.

As the GOP moves through its nominating process and Trump’s criminal cases advance, the rest of the country should pay close attention to second place because of the destruction DeSantis — MAGA’s emergency quarterback — could unleash if scaled nationwide.

Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25-year litigator specializing in 1st and 14th Amendment defense. Follow her on Substack.