DeSantis Unironically Frets About ‘Criminalizing Political Differences’

Published

2 years ago

July 20, 2023

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During a Tuesday interview with CNN, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, was asked by anchor Jake Tapper to respond to the breaking news that former President Donald Trump could face a federal indictment for his role in instigating the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

DeSantis’ response was a revealing one.

“If [special prosecutor] Jack Smith has evidence of criminality,” asked Tapper, “should Donald Trump be held accountable?”

“Here’s the problem,” DeSantis replied. “This country is going down the road of criminalizing political differences, and I think that’s wrong.” A few moments later, DeSantis complained about the Department of Justice and the FBI being “weaponized against people they don’t like.” Eventually, he also got around to saying that he hopes Trump won’t be indicted because it “won’t be good for the country.”

Leave aside, for now, the bigger questions about whether another Trump indictment would be good for the countryor, for that matter, good for DeSantis’ own presidential aspirations.

Focus on the first part of DeSantis’ answerthe part about how criminalizing political differences is wrong. Tapper didn’t seize on that moment, but it would have been interesting to see him follow up by asking DeSantis how that position fits with the Florida governor’s extensive track record of wielding the power of the state against those with whom he has political disagreements.

Indeed, the weaponization of the state against those on the political left is thecentral theme of DeSantis’ entire campaign. He proudly boasts that Florida is “where woke goes to die,” and has banned schools in Florida from teaching anything that state education bureaucrats might deem to be “critical race theory.” Regardless of how he might define the terms “woke” and “critical race theory,” there’s no denying that his objections to them are purely political.

You could say the same thing about DeSantis’ decision during the pandemic to ban private businesses from requiring that workers and customers wear masks. And about his ongoing feud with The Walt Disney Company, Florida’s largest employer, which has accused DeSantis of orchestrating an unconstitutional “targeted campaign of government retaliation” after Disney’s then-CEO, Bob Chapek, spoke out against DeSantis’ so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, which banned discussions of gender identity in public elementary school classrooms (the law was later broadened to include most classrooms up to grade 12).

That’s a political disagreement about another political disagreementand in both cases, DeSantis has aimed to limit the free speech rights of his opponents. While that may not quite rise to the level of “criminalizing political differences,” which is what DeSantis accused the Justice Department of doing, DeSantis clearly has no qualms about exercising state power in political fights.

In his recent book, DeSantis makes clear that he would continue to use state power against his political opponents if elected president. “An American revival,” DeSantis writes, “requires that corporations are treated as political actors when they use their economic power to advance an ideological agenda.” Later in the same chapter, DeSantis imagines various ways in which “the political branches [of government] can protect individual freedom from stridently ideological private actors” by limiting what those private actors can do or say.

The idea that government should intervene to protect some private individuals from the free speech being exercised by other private individualsis both nonsensical and probably unconstitutional. As The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf has written about DeSantis’ misunderstanding of the value of freedom: “Neither my freedom nor yours requires the state to protect us from an entertainment company urging the state legislature to repeal a bill, or a beer company putting a trans influencer on a can, or whatever else DeSantis regards as a pathology. Indeed, we remain free in part because the First Amendment prevents the state from engaging in that sort of viewpoint discrimination.”

Much of what DeSantis has done in Florida and promised to do if elevated to the presidency is jarringly at odds with his criticism on Tuesday of Trump’s pending indictment. When you line that moment up against DeSantis’ campaign rhetoric, he seems to be saying that the problem with Trump’s possible indictment is merely that the state has been weaponized against the wrong person.

But that’s the root of the contradiction at the center of DeSantis’ campaign: Advocating for greater powers to be wielded against your political foes always creates the opportunity for your political foes to wield that same power against you and your allies.

The way out of that trap is not to double down on illiberalismeven though that’s what much of the populist right sees as necessarybut to do exactly what DeSantis said on Tuesday: oppose the criminalization of political differences.

Now let’s see if he can apply that same idea more broadly.

Business

UK economy grows more than expected, according to official figures

Published

3 hours ago

May 15, 2025

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UK economy grows more than expected, according to official figures

The UK economy showed strong growth in the first three months of the year, according to official figures.

Gross domestic product (GDP) – the standard measure of an economy’s value – grew 0.7% in the first quarter of 2025, the Office for National Statistics said.

The rise is better than expected. An increase of just 0.6% was anticipated by economists polled by the Reuters news agency.

Money blog: Reaction as UK economy grows more than expected

It’s significantly better than the three months previous, in which a slight economic expansion of just 0.1% was reported for the final quarter of 2024.

The ONS also said there was a small amount of growth last month, as GDP expanded 0.2% in March, which similarly beat expectations.

No growth at all had been forecast for the month.

How did the economy grow?

A large contribution to high GDP growth was an increase in output in the production sector, which rose 1.1%, driven by manufacturing and a 4% increase in water supply, the ONS said.

Also working to push up the GDP figure was 0.7% growth in the biggest part of the UK economy – the services industry.

Wholesale, retail and computer programming services all performed well in the quarter, as did car leasing and advertising, the ONS said.

It shows the economy was resilient, as the country headed into the global trade war sparked by President Trump’s so-called ‘liberation day’ tariff announcement on 2 April.

Welcome political news, for now

The data is welcome news for a government who have identified growing the economy as its number one priority.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is taking the figures as a political win, saying the UK economy has grown faster than the US, Canada, France, Italy and Germany.

“Today’s growth figures show the strength and potential of the UK economy, ” she said.

“Up against a backdrop of global uncertainty, we are making the right choices now in the national interest.”

Such GDP numbers may not continue into April as businesses and consumers were hit with a raft of bill rises, and Mr Trump’s tariffs fired the starting gun on a global trade war.

Last month, water, energy and council tax bills rose across the country while employers faced higher wage costs from the rise in their national insurance contributions and the minimum wage.

But above-inflation wage growth and fading consumer caution could continue to boost the economy.

UK

UK economy grows more than expected, according to official figures

Published

3 hours ago

May 15, 2025

admin

The UK economy showed strong growth in the first three months of the year, according to official figures.

Gross domestic product (GDP) – the standard measure of an economy’s value – grew 0.7% in the first quarter of 2025, the Office for National Statistics said.

The rise is better than expected. An increase of just 0.6% was anticipated by economists polled by the Reuters news agency.

Money blog: Reaction as UK economy grows more than expected

It’s significantly better than the three months previous, in which a slight economic expansion of just 0.1% was reported for the final quarter of 2024.

The ONS also said there was a small amount of growth last month, as GDP expanded 0.2% in March, which similarly beat expectations.

No growth at all had been forecast for the month.

How did the economy grow?

A large contribution to high GDP growth was an increase in output in the production sector, which rose 1.1%, driven by manufacturing and a 4% increase in water supply, the ONS said.

Also working to push up the GDP figure was 0.7% growth in the biggest part of the UK economy – the services industry.

Wholesale, retail and computer programming services all performed well in the quarter, as did car leasing and advertising, the ONS said.

It shows the economy was resilient, as the country headed into the global trade war sparked by President Trump’s so-called ‘liberation day’ tariff announcement on 2 April.

Welcome political news, for now

The data is welcome news for a government who have identified growing the economy as its number one priority.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is taking the figures as a political win, saying the UK economy has grown faster than the US, Canada, France, Italy and Germany.

“Today’s growth figures show the strength and potential of the UK economy, ” she said.

“Up against a backdrop of global uncertainty, we are making the right choices now in the national interest.”

Such GDP numbers may not continue into April as businesses and consumers were hit with a raft of bill rises, and Mr Trump’s tariffs fired the starting gun on a global trade war.

Last month, water, energy and council tax bills rose across the country while employers faced higher wage costs from the rise in their national insurance contributions and the minimum wage.

But above-inflation wage growth and fading consumer caution could continue to boost the economy.

Sports

Leafs forced to ‘look in the mirror’ after drubbing

Published

5 hours ago

May 15, 2025

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Leafs forced to 'look in the mirror' after drubbing

Kristen ShiltonMay 14, 2025, 11:52 PM ET
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TORONTO — The Maple Leafs‘ offense was missing in action again in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Wednesday night, as a 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers now has Toronto facing playoff elimination.

The Leafs, who were shut out 2-0 in Game 4, didn’t score until the final two minutes of Game 5 and now trail 3-2 in the best-of-seven series after holding a 2-0 lead.

Toronto’s top skaters were, again, invisible. Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander have yet to record a goal in the second round. And now the Leafs will have to log consecutive wins to extend their postseason.

“I think everybody’s got to look in the mirror,” Matthews said. “Myself included. Everybody wants to be better. Everybody wants to win.”

Matthews has just three goals in the Leafs’ last 21 games. He was third on the team in regular-season scoring, with 33 goals in 67 games.

It wasn’t just Matthews, though. Toronto was lifeless from the start of Game 5 and never seemed to challenge Florida at either end of the ice.

The Panthers heavily outplayed the Leafs throughout the first period, and it was defenseman Aaron Ekblad who finally beat goaltender Joseph Woll to give Florida a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes.

While Woll kept Toronto in a tight matchup, it was clear already the Leafs were struggling to keep up with the Panthers.

“We played slow,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “They were fast, they were on us, they were hungrier. That’s the first period, and that sets the tone for the game. It is hard to explain it. We all need to be better, me included. You can’t start the game that way, that’s a big thing for me.”

The Panthers opened the floodgates in the second period, helped by a landslide of Leafs mistakes. Dmitry Kulikov extended Florida’s lead with a goal tipped in by Leafs forward Scott Laughton‘s stick. Then Marner’s attempt to execute a spinning backhand pass in his own zone led to a turnover in the neutral zone that was picked up by Jesper Boqvist and snapped past Woll to give Florida a 3-0 lead midway through the second frame.

Boqvist entered the lineup in Game 5 to replace the injured Evan Rodrigues, who left Sunday’s Game 4 following a hit from Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Niko Mikkola made it 4-0 before the end of the period, giving three Florida defensemen goals on the night.

By the time A.J. Greer scored Florida’s fifth goal — the first playoff make of his career — in the third period, it was time for Toronto to make a change in net, with Woll being replaced by Matt Murray.

Frustrated fans, who had booed the Leafs off their own ice to end the second period, began throwing items onto the sheet, including a Matthews jersey. People were exiting in droves by early in the third period.

“We didn’t give them much reason to stick around,” Matthews said.

Woll finished the game with five goals on 25 shots for an .800 save percentage.

Florida wasn’t done after Woll’s departure, though, with Sam Bennett adding a power play goal to give the Panthers a 6-0 lead halfway through the third period.

Toronto’s top skaters have had no response for Florida’s suffocating pressure — or Sergei Bobrovsky‘s impressive play.

Since giving up 13 goals to Toronto through the series’ first three games, Bobrovsky has been airtight in denying the Leafs any opportunity to score.

Berube tried making adjustments. He inserted David Kampf and Nicholas Robertson into the lineup for Game 5 to try and generate a spark, and moved Max Pacioretty to the top line during the game in an effort to generate some momentum. Nothing seemed to help.

Toronto hadn’t registered a goal since 10:56 of the third period of Game 3 until Robertson put one past Bobrovsky with 90 seconds left Wednesday night. It was all too little, too late.

“Tonight, it wasn’t a good game for anybody,” Berube said. “Anybody. All of us. it was not a good game.”

Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev was quick to shoulder the burden of Toronto’s defeat, echoing a refrain heard around the locker room from players determined not to let this be the penultimate game of their season.

“I’ll take responsibility,” Tanev said. “I need to be better. If I’m a minus player [at minus-2 in Game 5], we’re probably not going to win the game. It’s on me. I’ll take responsibility for the game.”

Game 6 is Friday in Florida.