While the rest of us, even crazy Republicans selling their souls to stay off Trump’s sh*t list knew Ron DeSantis wouldn’t be moving up to bigger and better things, Ron and Casey still had delusions of grandeur. He still had an awfully tight grip on the Florida GOP and anyone hoping for a future in that state’s politics knew better than to cross him. Well, it looks like those days are over. DeSantis has brought down damn near universal condemnation on himself, including from both rank and file GOP politicians to prominent ones. It’s the reason that’s so astounding. It wasn’t his flop of a Presidential campaign that embarrassed both himself and Florida, his stupid fight with Disney (the costs of which are only now starting to be understood), cozying up to Neo Nazis and so many other OMFG things. Nope, Ron DeSantis has managed to piss off even fellow Republicans over… THE ENVIRONMENT!
Surprised? I sure as hell was. Like poor Irony, Reality must be in “screw it, what’s the point?” mode. Still, for all the issues I mentioned above not to mention all the seniors (a hugely important voting bloc for the GOP in Florida) with his Covid policies it was a secretly concocted plan to develop some hugely popular public parks with an astonishing array of wildlife and build hotels and other stuff that got Floridians up in arms! In this article from The Guardian the matter is put clearly right at the beginning:
It was, instead, a love of vulnerable Florida scrub jays; a passion to preserve threatened gopher tortoises; and above all a unanimous desire to speak up for nature in defiance of Ron DeSantis’s mind-boggling plan to pave over thousands of unspoiled acres at nine state parks and erect 350-room hotels, golf courses and pickleball courts.
I recall seeing something about Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus finding golf courses they were planning to build down there no longer being in the works. I wished I’d clicked on and read that particular article because I assume a couple of big names like that were part of this fiasco. One more way in which each have diminished their legacy as far as I’m concerned but if you’re not into golf that’s probably not a big deal. What IS a big deal is the reaction from Republicans not on DeSantis’ team has been:
The outcry when DeSantis’s department of environmental protection (DEP) unveiled its absurdly named Great Outdoors Initiative last week was immediate, overwhelming and unprecedented. The Republican Florida senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott penned a joint letter slamming an “absolutely ridiculous” proposal to build a golf course at Jonathan Dickinson state park in Martin county. The Republican congressman Brian Mast, usually a reliable DeSantis ally, said it would happen “over my dead body”.
That’s not the half of it. The Guardian’s article says scores of Republicans have denounced the project, with some even slamming DeSantis and his team for all the secrecy, not to mention violation of Florida law in developing the whole thing. It wasn’t that long ago that, despite the humiliation of his failed campaign most Republicans in Florida politics wouldn’t dare stand up to DeSantis who has two years left in his term. The swiftness with which GOPers have joined Democrats and environmentalists in general in denouncing not just the plan but DeSantis himself is stunning. Mr. ‘Never Back Down’ is now furiously backing down:
By Wednesday, DeSantis’s initiative was in effect dead, as the governor, clearly chastened by the unexpected all-quarters challenge to his previously unquestioned authority, furiously back-pedaled at an awkward press conference in Winter Haven.
“They’re going back to the drawing board,” he said of plans he conceded were “half-baked” and “not ready for prime time”.
Before I was done reading the linked article I was experiencing a form a deja vu. DeSantis it seems it blaming everyone but himself, saying he didn’t really know what all these people with such close relationships (including working for him) were up to etc. Just like Trump is doing with Project 2025. However, it seems that as with Trump’s attempts to deny any knowledge of or approval of project 2025 DeSantis’ attempts to deny any knowledge of or approval of his ‘Great Outdoors Initiative’ is worse than lame and pathetic.
OF COURSE he knew all about what was going on! The more he denies it the worse he’s going to look. I know. You’re saying even before this he couldn’t possibly look any worse. Well, look at what’s just happened. Things can ALWAYS get worse. DeSantis hasn’t just pissed off vast numbers of Floridians, he’s managed to scare legislators who’ve been his rubber stamp into being afraid. They too can see while Florida isn’t exactly in play in the Presidential election it might wind up becoming so.
Plus there’s that abortion initiative on the ballot that is going to bring out a lot of voters. Back in 2018 and 2022 Trump’s name wasn’t on any ballot. However it didn’t need to be for voters all over the country to give Trump an electoral whupping. I suspect in Florida an awful lot of legislators who’ve blindly gone along with whatever DeSantis told them to do, especially in the last two years are running scared all of a sudden. Add it anger over insurance rates (a decades old problem in Florida and the GOP has ruled the state since back when ‘Jeb!’ was Governor and a lot of Republicans have good reason to be scared now.
As I said earlier, I have zero doubt that Ron and Casey DeSantis have harbored a fantasy of Trump crashing and burning this fall and leaving the GOP in a mess. Ok, so it’s already a mess but you know what I mean. The point is that if Trump goes down in flames and takes the GOP as we now know it with him SOMEONE has to emerge and try to put the pieces back together. You and I might know that person will never, ever be Ron DeSantis but I’ll guarantee you Ron and Casey think it can and will be. Or at least they did.
It will be interesting to see how things unfold within Florida politics this November. Beyond the Presidential (and Senate) race. As the linked article suggests at this point, with the growing defiance DeSantis is looking at two freaking years of being a LAME DUCK. He (and his equally delusional wife) might not accept the cold, hard reality that he’s never, even going to move up. He’s already burnt toast that’s crumbling. In hurricane force winds.
IF he tries to build a political future it will be a hilarious thing to watch. However, if that happens the GOP infighting in Florida might actually wind that state becoming a swing state again. Assuming Democrats complete the just started process of flushing the county and state Party leaders who over a decade ago chose to roll over or curl up in the corner and beg the GOP not to hurt them. Put a pin in this. It could over the long haul wind up being huge.
Hubris. Exhibit A. The De Santis.
See also: Pride Comes Before A Fall.
the “ENIVORNMENT ” ? ?
interesting article otherwise
I saw the typo and fixed it. We have limited editorial staff here. We do the best we can.
Okay. Is there a problem with spell check for y’all? That doesn’t need an editor. Straight question bc I don’t know your process.
This issue of spelling/grammar/typos keeps coming up, when some newbie pokes fun, and others come to the defence of (most often) Murph, pointing out his poor eyesight, but also due to the lack of proofreading generally. I’ve got used to it, but it does indeed give an image of unprofessionalism to many new folks who comes to the site, which could easily put people off, or reduce their assumptions about the trustworthiness of the article.
Could I suggest that at the top of each article somewhere a small note for new readers be put to explain the ethos (“relatively rough’n’ready”?? – hoping that doesn’t offend any writers here) of the site being e.g. to put it out quickly, & maybe tidy some bits up later, don’t have large staff, etc?
I feel this could increase regular readership developing from those coming across PZ accidentally.
I know y’all think I’m a bit of a shitheel for bringing up typos but BritKen’s point about how outsiders view the site is legit. I’m not a writer but my dad was and he was ferocious about such things. He’d kick y’all to the curb w/o hesitation and the cognitive bias against typos and stuff I inherited from him is very difficult for me to move past. Content is great here, so I deal. Getting lectured about why I should not care about something I do? Not so great. Anyways… I think BritKen’s suggestion might be worth considering.
I’m not insulted by your take on this and I don’t think the rest of us at the site are either. I’m sure you know the situation with Murf’s eyesight and Teri still works so it’s not like she can spend a bunch of her own time with him as he writes. I do try to go back and fix things but I’m on the east cost and he’s in the western time zone. Also, by the time he sits down to write it’s after hours of sifting through news and other sites to try and find something either new or a different perspective that no one else has brought up – meaning well into the evening. Often I’m asleep (or trying to sleep) when his stuff goes up. Ursula also tries to edit his articles but without her this site wouldn’t exist – she’s our primary writer as you know, plus she’s got all the other issues as owner to deal with.
As for me it’s embarrassing to post something and have someone point out something as simple as a typo. A mistake on a fact is even worse but I still try to make time to thank someone for pointing out when I’m in error. I don’t like being corrected any more than most people but I’d rather fix mistakes than let them sit there and would prefer people speak up.
Now, I know this sounds like an excuse and maybe it is but to both you and the gentleman you’ve responded to I feel compelled to point out a couple of things. This is a small, sometimes borderline medium sized blog. It makes just enough money to stay online after web hosting costs, having a tech support person (they don’t work for free), and a modest bit paid to writers is made. None of us are making out like bandits including Ursula. I also don’t want to go into TMI territory but all four of us who post articles have health issues. And life stuff too. What we make here is just a supplement to our social security/disability payments each month. It would be great to have more writers generating more viewers and more income. The kind that would allow for a couple of “proofreaders” and things like that. I do various admin tasks (data tracking, content moderation, scrubbing spammers etc.) in addition to writing. Ursula does as I said a lot more than I do and I don’t want to even imagine the pressures she faces.
But the bottom line is that we are all pressed to publish articles because without them we are toast. And sometimes in our haste to get something up because site traffic is low we miss things (those pesky typos!) when we go through an article before publishing. Also, in the form where we create/write our articles there are various items we have to click or tend to and if we miss one (say the title pic doesn’t load properly but it’s not apparent until after the article is published), tags aren’t included (which helps our work get noticed elsewhere), or even the little web-push notification box (without which a story will get people to come here and at least think about opening it which is how we get ad revenue and stay in business) are all critical. Basically, there’s a lot more to it than back in school writing an essay, and then proofing it before turning it in to teacher. Oh, and spell check. No, that’s not part of the software on the page where we create our articles. Even if it was no one can fully trust it. LOTS of words are spelled correctly so they don’t get flagged, yet are the wrong words or not the correct spelling/punctuation for the word we intend to use.
So typos happen. I have no excuses other than not always having enough time or due to life/health factors on a given day the focus to proofread something the way I would have for one of my teachers back in school. I’m embarrassed when someone points out a mistake I made but part of me truly is grateful they do so. Does it make us look less polished to some? I can’t argue with that. At the same time, do you scrutinize articles from major outlets, including many of those we link to in our articles? I don’t know about you but I regularly see typos in them. Unlike us these are outlets that make LOTS of money/profit and pay their writers sums those of us here on our Little Engine That Could can only dream of.
Should we try harder? It’s hard to argue with a well-intentioned (and I believe your comments and the other guy’s, and others too are well-intentioned) criticism. Hell, I grew up playing sports and served in the Marines. I’ve gotten “criticism” that would peel your skin off! Not to mention some bosses that were shall we say less than tactful or sometimes even fair. Compared to all that feeling some “how in the hell did you overlook THAT?” embarrassment is small potatoes but I’ll be the first to concede it matters.
So don’t be bashful if you have something to say, even if it stings some. None of us are perfect and being reminded of it can help make us a little better. You are NOT a shitheel, but rather someone who cares enough to try and offer constructive criticism. I see you as someone from long, long ago who was a mentor when I became a Freemason. Knowing I’d become a Worshipful Master in time and one day want to be certified as a grand lecturer a couple of our fifty year members would take me aside after lodge had close and start with “If I didn’t know you want to learn to get this right I wouldn’t bother but…” That’s a longer story, but it sums up my feeling about criticism that’s well-intentioned.
Oops. That’s what I get for trying to eat dinner at a decent time and also write & post an article. I’m embarrassed like anyone else when I make a mistake but I’d rather someone point it out so I can correct it so thanks. And thanks to Ursula for catching and fixing it while I was tending to other PZ stuff.
God I hope Rick Scott loses his Senate seat. Wouldn’t that be something? And DeSantis can’t read the room. He just does not belong in politics. Not at his level and certainly not any higher. He may be a good lawyer, for all that we know. But he is not any kind of a social engineer. On any level.
He should be in jail for what he did while in the private sector. However as you know there are two justice systems in this country and for rich and powerful people avoiding legal accountability might cost them but they usually get away with financial crimes. Scott made far more than it cost in lawyers fees to keep him from facing charges.
I too am hoping he does down in November. He knows he’s got a fight on his hands and unlike DeSantis might have a political future in a post Trump GOP. That’s why he came out so swiftly with that letter denouncing DeSantis. Scott doesn’t give two shits about the environment and would happily invest in development of those parks except he knew it would prompt a public outcry and not just from Democrats. So he tried to get out in front of the whole stinking mess.
Lowlife Rick Scott can’t receive his comeuppance too soon. A longtime friend (over 55 years) and coworker took his early retirement and moved to West Palm Beach, FL in 1995. We visited them twice a year after they bought their house, for years, and one of those visits was during the 2010 race for governor. Ever-present radio and TV ads quickly familiarized us with Scott and opponent Alex Sink, the state’s CFO, an elective position. Scott’s ads hammered Ms. Sink’s handling the state’s pension fund mangement during the 2007-8 recession, as if he or any other individual could have done better (only hedge-fund operators who short-sold the economy made out, and did so BIG TIME!). The vote tally was 49-48 for Scott; draw your own conclusions.
On a subsequent visit, we heard that as governor, Scott had the tax-levying power of the state’s water resource administration boards curtailed or eliminated, which had the effect of encouraging the overdevelopment that has left Florida far from the idyllic retreat it once was (it’s doubtful many, if any, Floridians actually drink their tap water).
Can’t happen too soon…..
this was a slight surprise. the plans to develop state parks has been around since long before DeSantis and pops up every few years then quietly gets shut down. I think this time it went further than usual.
I saw another article and both Niclaus and Woods were on board to design golf courses at two of the parks. While it’s murky whether a deal was in place or at least at L.O.I. state with Nicklaus things with Woods and the management group were at an advanced stage and even to a point where some type of settlement might have to get worked out. So yeah, this was WAY more along than past proposals which never went anywhere because the public didn’t like the idea. THIS time a LOT of work was done in secret, and DeSantis was counting on a compliant legislature to rubber stamp things. If you read the linked article you can see just how advanced the processs of shoving the project down everyone’s throats was. For example legally required meetings to allow public input on the golf course proposals being limited to an hour of public comment – held for each location at the same time!
The only chance this had was to plan it under the strictest secrecy. Then a wham, bam thank you folks period followed by a quick vote of the legislature before public opposition could get moblized. But the thing leaked and this is a howler – DeSantis is saying it was Democrats that leaked it! I find it hard to believe the players gave even a hint to any Democrats of what was in the works. No, it was someone in his administration who had misgivings, and hopes of a career after DeSantis was gone.
as far as I know this is technically only postponed till next year. after the election, if Rick survives, he’ll be all for it. it came up when he was governor and under Jeb as well. it’s always been extraordinarily unpopular.