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Despite the fact that the headline mentions Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), this is actually mostly an item about abortion. More specifically, it is an item about abortion ads.
The Lincoln Project may have one or two scandals on its ledger, but it's still really, really good at producing political ads. We embedded a recent pro-choice ad the organization did, featuring a police officer arresting a young woman traveling across state lines, as he claims she is planning to procure an abortion. Yesterday, the organization released a new pro-choice ad and it is brutal:
If you really want to understand it, you should watch it. That said, we'll try to give a sense of it. The ad features a woman named Daisy (that's also the title of the ad; presumably a callback to the famous LBJ "Daisy" ad). It starts with her warm memories of growing up with her father; footage from her youth is interspersed throughout the ad. We then learn that Daisy's father became a Trumper, and a supporter of Trump's policies on abortion. And finally, in an outcome hinted at throughout the spot, we learn that Daisy had a pregnancy that somehow went wrong, and that she died due to restrictions on prenatal care. Anyhow, the ad has been viewed 200,000 times in the first 24 hours.
Let us now hit you with another pro-choice ad; this one's NOT from the Lincoln Project:
In this one, a woman named Caroline talks about how a case of brain cancer, which emerged while she was pregnant, put her in the position of having to get an abortion in order to survive (the fetus would not have survived either way). She warns that, under current Florida law, she would not be able to make the choice she made.
And that is where DeSantis comes in. We suspect he does not care about abortion, one way or another. But whatever his views are, his political base is fanatically anti-abortion. So, it would not be well for a pro-choice amendment to pass and become law on his watch. Consequently, he is doing everything he can to defeat the Florida abortion amendment, and if he has to abuse the powers of his office to do it, then... oh, well. So, among many other abuses, he has directed his underlings to send cease and desist letters to TV stations that are airing pro-choice ads (specifically, the one with Caroline). If the stations do not obey, then DeSantis is threatening management with 60 days in jail.
Like Donald Trump, DeSantis is a scary, scary man, with no discernible moral compass to speak of. That said, we think there is a significant risk that maneuvers like this will backfire. Anyone who is pro-choice is already lost to the Governor, at least on this issue. And by putting his inner fascist on display, he risks driving the "small government" types into the pro-choice column. We are just not impressed with his political instincts, and continue to believe strongly that he will never, ever get within a country mile of being president. (Z)