The Performative Sadism of Ron DeSantis

[Nevilledog]

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Republican Party is testing whether sadism can become the foundation for political success in the United States.
If they are wrong, the GOP is heading into a political abyss. If they are right, the nation is going there, as I discuss in the Daily Beast.

thedailybeast.com
The Performative Sadism of Ron DeSantis
The Florida governor and MAGA heir is betting his political future on hurting vulnerable people to own the libs.
2:13 AM · Sep 21, 2022

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-performative-sadism-of-ron-desantis

No paywall
https://archive.ph/aZ3jE

The GOP—under Donald Trump and perhaps soon under his would-be successor, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—is rapidly becoming a party centered upon tormenting and humiliating the vulnerable.

In the sway of sadists, the Republicans are testing whether the celebration of cruelty can be the motivating force for a U.S. political party. But this experiment in grounding the GOP’s identity on the veneration of deliberate harm, while obviously immoral, may also be a political error.

As social science teaches, many people have a disturbing level of tolerance for the suffering of others, but also don’t like to admit it; and prefer to see themselves as victims, forced to tolerate (or perhaps even cause) harm to others.

By contrast, sadists openly relish punishing the vulnerable. It therefore remains questionable whether most Republicans—let alone a majority of voters—are willing to overtly identify themselves as people who enjoy causing torment.

Ron’s Way

DeSantis has shown himself to be a supremely non-creative politician. He has systematically copied whatever happens to be the extreme right-wing trolling strategy of the moment, and then amped it up. And at every point during his tenure, the governor has anxiously looked backwards to see if any rival (including Trump) had out-extremed him.

*snip*


We are a deeply sick society.

[Midnight Writer]

1. Republican voters are masochists.

I drove through the "poor part of town" (where I grew up) yesterday, and the entire area is covered with Trump flags, Trump decals and stickers, Trump yard signs. Houses with caved in roofs, piles of garbage in the yard, abandoned cars filling the lots, people who look like remnants of The Great Depression.

Do these people really think Trump gives a tinker's turd about them, or do they enjoy being poor and pissed on?

[slightlv]

2. I think these people have already drunk the koolaid,

believing that only Trump will deliver for them, and not deliver to anyone else. Eventually they'll have an eye opening surprise when they realize that Trump just doesn't care about anyone but himself, and only takes from them. He'll never give them *anything* that they can use. Like throwing paper towels to hurricane victims. But that's a long way down the road for these people. They are addicted to Trump and all the pomp and circumstance. It is so far beyond their normal day-to-day life, and they truly believe Trump will make that life theirs forever. Addiction to a cult is just as strong, if not stronger, than addiction to alcohol or drugs. If you don't like yourself, you'll fall for anyone who says they like you, even if deep down you know they're lying.

I'm not excusing these people. They're too prone to pick up a gun and shoot us. Violence is their first line of offense AND defense. I really wish they'd pick another country already molded into one with more closely aligns to their liking -- perhaps Hungary -- and then coerce Trump (or maybe de Santis) to buy them a one way ticket there.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. The radicalized Republican party offers nothing but oppression and hate.

Roe, Roe, Roe your vote
against theocracy!
Republicans revoke your rights
and kill democracy!

THESE are the races that will determine control of the House of Representatives:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217175231

Stick 'em up for a blue wave: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217078977
Donate to 38 House candidates: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217067267

[Timeflyer]

4. I used to wonder how ancient Romans could watch gladiatorial games to the death.

Now I think they, like reThugs today, got a vicarious thrill from imagining themselves personally inflicting the cruelty. And if they're fed a diet of sadism to others (people not like them) their appetite grows.