New Report Warns DeSantis' Private Army is a Potential Hotbed of Extremism
Last edited Mon Nov 20, 2023, 03:42 PM - Edit history (1)
Daily Kos, Nov. 20, 2023. - Ed.
One of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' more bizarre moves has been the establishment of the FLORIDA STATE GUARD. This during a gubernatorial tenure that has seen DeSantis lurch to the far, far right on everything from civil rights to public education to whether or not people suspected of "drug smuggling" ought to be summarily executed upon crossing our southern border.
The guard was announced with some pomp in 2022 and premised as an alternative version of the state National Guard under the orders of nobody but the governor himself and would be focused on emergency response in case of natural disasters or other state emergencies.
Why DeSantis needed his own alternative to the National Guard was always sketchy, and critics warned from the beginning that the authoritarian-minded, vengeance-obsessed DeSantis was exactly the sort of political leader who should not be given his own dedicated paramilitary force. The suspicions were that FL Republicans were not creating an "emergency preparedness" force, but a state-sponsored anti-federal militia. 🪖
Those fears quickly proved to be grounded. Last June, scandal erupted when a founding supervisor & other volunteers quit, warning that the training for the new FL state guard was "heavily militarized," with "marching drills & military-style sessions on weapons and hand-to-hand combat." The governor's office then appeared to bend the previously stated purpose, telling The NYT the group would help "ensure FL remains fully fortified to respond to not only natural disasters, but also to protect its people & borders from illegal aliens and civil unrest."
That gave the game away..The Southern Poverty Law Center is now weighing in as well. - Read More, https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/20/2206552/-A-new-report-warns-that-DeSantis-private-army-is-a-potential-hotbed-of-extremism
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SPLC, The Dangers of DeSantis' Militia,
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2023/11/16/dangers-desantiss-militia
