Dem
51
GOP
49
As most readers probably know, it's Pride Month right now. Certainly, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) had it circled on his calendar. Not so he could celebrate the occasion, mind you, but so he could use it to do a little virtue signaling.
At issue here is bridges. Actually, it's not even the bridges, it's the lighting on the bridges. Normally, that lighting is some shade of white or yellow, but it's entirely possible to switch to other colors, as occasions dictate. Think red and green for Christmas, or blue and white for Hanukkah. And a number of communities in Florida have gotten in the habit of using rainbow lights during Pride Month.
This is where the Governor comes in. On May 27, which just so happens to be days before the commencement of Pride Month, he ordered that until September 2, the only acceptable colors for bridge lighting are red, white and blue, in celebration of what DeSantis calls "Freedom Summer." Here is how Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue (R) described the new policy on eX-Twitter:
As Floridians prepare for Freedom Summer, Florida's bridges will follow suit, illuminating in red, white, and blue from Memorial Day through Labor Day! Thanks to the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida continues to be the freest state in the nation.
We would like to remind readers, at this point, that we have been very reluctant to deploy the word "fascism" to describe what's going on with the Trump wing of the modern Republican Party. However, micromanaging things to the point that some color combinations are state-approved and others are state-forbidden? And then having the temerity to declare that this sort of thought policing is actually evidence that Florida is "the freest state in the nation"? We struggle to think of a better example of what George Orwell called "goodthink." In any case, this kind of thing is absolutely, 100%, no doubt about it, right out of Fascism 101.
DeSantis is term-limited, so he's not going to be running for governor again. And yet, he's back to the sort of performative nonsense that characterized his failed presidential campaign. Clearly, the Governor thinks he still has a political future, probably as 2028 presidential nominee of the Republican Party. We think he's delusional, but the point is, he's not going to go gentle into that good night, and he's going to continue to inflict his brand of poison on Florida and on the country as a whole. (Z)