Ron DeSantis doesn’t care if my kids get sick — he just wants to be president

Some other Republican stalwarts, in light of surging Covid rates, have recanted from the death cult orthodoxy — but not our governor

CORONAVIRUS-FLORIDA (AP)

Today, as my kids return to school after a nearly two-year stay at home, I am not full of joy or pride or relief. I am full of rage, and shame, and trepidation and grief.

I live in Florida, a peninsula ruled by beef-witted Republicans hell-bent on sacrificing public health for their political aspirations. Above them all, Governor Ron DeSantis roosts atop the coop of far-right chuds, a grinning Chicken King of the dangerously deluded, a small-to-medium-deal trying to become a big deal by rocketing himself into the national spotlight through the force of the anti-science fervor of the Trumpy mob. The maskless mass cheer on his negligent homicide from Palm Beach to Panama City with something about freedom, something about choice, something about CO2 saturation, something about something they saw on Facebook that the mainstream media is keeping from you. And all of our children suffer.

Florida is in the midst of a completely preventable crisis. The state is nearly out of ICU beds. Each day sees record numbers of infections and hospitalizations, higher than even prior state-wide peaks. More kids are getting sick, since no one under the age of twelve is eligible for the vaccine and the Delta variant is more transmissible.

The strongest line of defense for keeping schools safe begins with mask mandates. By some estimates, we need 80 percent mask compliance for effective prevention of spread. It’s pretty hard to get there if the top executive in the state is doing everything in his power to keep people from wearing masks.

I am full of rage because it’s into this vortex of risk and uncertainty that I am tasked with sending my children. I am full of disgust and trepidation and incredulity because even though I’ve been working in campaigning and activism alongside groovy progressive politicians and in opposition to horrible reactionaries like DeSantis for over a decade, I still have a hard time believing what I’m seeing. I’m still shocked, even if I’m not surprised, that Florida’s Governor wants me and millions of other parents to put our kids at risk because this guy wants to be president one day.

Some other GOP stalwarts, in light of surging caseloads, have seen fit to recant from the death cult orthodoxy — like Louisiana Governor Jon Bel Edwards, who reversed course on mask mandates at the beginning of August. 40,000 dead Floridians don’t phase ol’ DeathSantis, though.

Ron DeSantis is not just indifferent to public safety measures, he’s outright hostile. The Sunshine State’s apex goon has threatened to withhold the salary of any educator or administrator who enforces a mask mandate, closely after his pledge to defund school districts enforcing mandates, all while selling beer coozies bearing messages like “Don’t Fauci My Florida” and “How the Hell am I going to Drink a Beer with My Mask On?” Never has a more Florida phrase been crafted. It’ll look great etched into tombstones.

Ron DeSantis does not care if children get sick. Ron Desantis does not care if children are hospitalized. Ron DeSantis does not care if children die, so long as his far-right talking points live to see the day. He cynically tallied up the numbers, and figured that the cost of thousands more dead Floridians is worth the price, so long as he gets a decent shot at the top prize in 2024. While parents agonize over whether it’s safe to send their kids off to class, DeSantis is attending fundraisers in California and Michigan, and appearing on Fox News. This dude really wants to be like Trump, and he’s got a lot of work to do in the body count department to catch up.

It’s the first day of school, and thanks to Ron DeSantis and the rest of the Republicans in Florida, I’m far from happy about it.

None of this had to happen. None of it. Because even now, after the Republican Party’s Covid denial and anti-science misinformation-mongering has caused so much suffering and death, it’s not too late to implement basic public safety measures to save lives. The hypocrisy of a movement that bills itself as pro-life is so objectively, vociferously, steadfastly pro-death that it nearly defies belief. (Nearly, because unlike these recalcitrant reactionaries I listen to the evidence right in front of me).

It’s so easy to just put on a mask, to just place a piece of fabric over your face for a few hours to help protect the immunocompromised, to protect the under-twelves who’ve done everything right and just want to lead normal lives and see their friends again. The most gleefully ignorant and selfish are once more screwing it up for the rest of us.

I am full of rage, because Ron DeSantis wants put families through hospitalizations and funerals for his own presidential ambitions. I will never forget it.