 So, for a while, I've had a debate with myself about who I believe is actually more nefarious with respect to GOP leaders. Is it Donald Trump who is propagating this big lie that is harming democracy? Or is it someone like Ron DeSantis who is more politically savvy and can probably pull off all of the bad things that Trump wanted to pull off but couldn't because he was too incompetent? I mean, the biggest fear that I've had is a competent fascist coming along. I think that in many ways we dodged a bullet as a country, you know, despite the damage that Trump caused, because Trump himself just wasn't able to pull off what he wanted to. But someone like Ron DeSantis, I think he could do real damage. And today, I'm sure of it that now Ron DeSantis is absolutely unquestionably more dangerous than Donald Trump. And this story really solidified this view in my mind. So as the Washington Post's Lori Rosa and Beth Reinhardt explain, a plan by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would establish a police force to oversee state elections, the first of its kind in the nation. And while his fellow Republicans have reacted tepidly, voting rights advocates fear that it will become law and be used to intimidate voters. The proposed office of election crimes and security would be part of the Department of State, which answers to the governor. DeSantis is asking the GOP controlled legislature to allocate nearly $6 million to hire 52 people to investigate, detect, apprehend and arrest anyone for an alleged violation of election laws. They would be stationed at unspecified field offices throughout the state and act on tips from government officials or any other person. DeSantis highlighted his plan as legislators opened their annual 60 day session last week. Voting rights experts say that no state has such an agency, one dedicated to patrolling elections and empowered to arrest suspected violators. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the formation of a 2021 Texas election integrity unit in October. But that office is more limited in scope, has fewer than 10 employees and isn't under the governor's authority. So what could go wrong? I mean, I'm sure that there's no way that this could possibly be abused. Nope. Look, let me be very clear, voter fraud is not an issue. To the extent that voter fraud is found, it is statistically insignificant. It doesn't happen frequently enough to actually change elections. And when we do find actual evidence of voter fraud, more often than not, it seems like it's the Republicans who are committing it. So this is them trying to create a solution for a problem that doesn't exist. And it's a thinly veiled attempt to consolidate his power. This is encroaching fascism. Fascists are authoritarian and they find ways constantly to increase the power that they have. And this is what Ron DeSantis is doing. He's much more covert and insidious in the ways that he tries to undermine democracy, at least in his state of Florida. But while he does things like this, in true fascist fashion, he'll claim that Florida is actually the freest state in the country. But that's part of fascism. You flip reality on its head. You lie. You frame your opponents as both weak and strong at the same time. I mean, we are seeing fascism in the United States. And it's not very explicit at this point, but that is rapidly changing. We're seeing the GOP devolve from proto-fascists to outright violent fascists to wear a significant portion of the GOP's base actually believes that outright violence is necessary in order to go forward as a country in order to enact political change. So once you have a portion of the population think that democracy itself is no longer the most effective way to effect change in your country, that's when they resort to violence. And increasingly, we are seeing that. And when you have the GOP's leaders egging them on, some of them like Marjorie Green antagonizing for civil war. And when you have people like Ron DeSantis trying to consolidate his power to more effectively attack his political opponents and create these pseudo investigations into issues that don't actually exist. These are all signs of encroaching fascism. Now I want to go to an op-ed written by Abby Zemet of Common Dreams because she explains how this authoritarianism for Ron DeSantis is nothing new. She writes, Hair DeSantis, who once considered forming his own private militia, asked the GOP led legislature for six million for the new stormtroopers in a state of the state address teaming with Fridemi Bilge. Florida is the freest state in the United States, standing as freedom's vanguard for those chafing under authoritarian, arbitrary, and seemingly never-ending mandates due to a coercive biomedical apparatus in blind adherence to Faucian declarations. But Florida is a free state that has stood strong as the rock of freedom. Fascistic but strong. Like many of his GOP fellow travelers, DeSantis has long indulged his autocratic impulses from fighting court battles against tyrannical masks and vaccines to pushing a gonzo bill to prohibit schools from making white people feel discomfort to passing multiple laws making it harder for people, oddly, mostly brown and black, to vote in a state where over 40% of the populace vote by mail. The laws restrict absentee ballot drop boxes, toughen ID rules for mail-in ballots, and forbid giving water to voters in long lines to, y'know, keep them free. Democracy as wingnut reality show, DeSantis even made news of his signing the laws, now facing a court challenge, a Fox News exclusive. All this in a state he touted in 2020 as the gold standard of election integrity. After Trump wanted crowning, the way Florida did it, I think, inspired confidence. So on one hand, he says that the way that Florida does it, it's the gold standard. The way that we do it inspires confidence of our voters. They feel as if their vote counts. But on another hand, we need to have this new police agency that I specifically will control so that way we can inspire confidence in our elections. Make it make sense. It doesn't make sense because he's using this as an excuse to consolidate his power. Trump is not as dangerous as DeSantis. And it's difficult to say that knowing that Trump delegitimized American democracy, which is a pretty significant thing to do. But DeSantis, if he were in power, he could do things that Trump only dreamed up. So when we see this feud between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis play out, I hope that they end up taking each other out somehow by battling each other and delegitimizing one another. But either way, I mean, it's not good regardless of who comes out on top as the next de facto GOP leader. But DeSantis is more dangerous. And I think that stories like this prove it. Because he is able to more competently speak out of both sides of his mouth and get people to think that he's actually more reasonable than individuals like Donald Trump who compulsively lie. And that may be the case. But DeSantis hides all the things that he wants to do. And it's not like he's doing that good of a job at hiding it, right? Because this is pretty explicit to want a new agency to practically intimidate voters. But still, normal Americans, they don't see it. It's not explicit to them as Trump is. So this is something that I think we have to watch out for. Ron DeSantis is a dangerous actor. Arguably one of the most dangerous individuals in the country. And we have to absolutely do everything in our power as a country to stop him from gaining power. Because if he were to ever become the president of the United States, which is possible, then I mean, we're more doomed than we are currently. Everyone else is tremendous. Many people are saying this. Join today, folks. You won't regret it.