You could certainly be forgiven if you observed the early stages of the Ron DeSantis campaign for governor and concluded the candidate was practicing the politics of shameless fear-mongering.
After all, DeSantis, R-Trump Minnie-Me, has all but suggested a victory by his Democratic opponent, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, would result in a plague of locusts descending upon the state. Boils optional.
DeSantis, who has had about as much human contact with the great unwashed of the state as the Unabomber, has suggested Gillum would impose a state income tax if he won. The beefcake boy of Fox & Friends also has hinted Gillum has a soft-spot in his heart for child molesters, based on something Gillum has never said.
Gillum also has never advocated for a state income tax. He has proposed raising Florida's corporate income tax rate from 5.5 percent to 7.5 percent. That's not exactly a socialist coup.
But DeSantis is banking on the hope voters are dumber than a sack of Trump University graduates.
The Republican candidate for governor gambles his base is clueless to the fact the Florida Constitution prohibits a state income tax. And to amend the Constitution to allow for an income tax would require the approval of at least 60 percent of the voters.
Either DeSantis is aware of the barriers to creating an income tax and attempting to scare voters. Or he is ill-informed about the very constitution of the state he wants to lead. And DeSantis is supposed to be an Ivy League lawyer?
But DeSantis wasn't quite finished trying to define Gillum as the Angel of Death. He has claimed his opponent is soft on child molesters predicated on a huge stinking pile of balderdash. He says Gillum would refuse to work with immigration officials and thus, illegal immigrant child molesters would be free to roam the streets of Florida instead of being deported to their home countries.
But Gillum has never said he would refuse to work with immigration authorities.
Consider for a moment that DeSantis wants his supporters to believe that Gillum sat around with his brain trust and arrived at the brilliant notion, "You know what Mr. Mayor, let's come out in favor of child molesters. They are obviously an untapped constituency. As we all know, as child molesters go, so goes Florida."
DeSantis assumes his supporters are a group of gullible half-wits who possess all the rational critical thinking skills of a loofah sponge to believe Gillum supports child molesters.
Exploiting the fears and anxieties of the voters is a well-worn path in elections. But DeSantis takes the "We're all doomed!" shtik to an entirely new level of smarmy disingenuousness.
Gillum earned the "candidate as soft on child molesters" ire of DeSantis simply because the mayor has been critical of President Donald Trump's immigration policies. But disagreeing over a public policy issue is not the same as supporting pedophiles. Wouldn't that constitute a leap of lunacy?
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Explore all your optionsDuring the Republican primary campaign, DeSantis assiduously avoided the state, spending most of his time either on Fox News, or sitting on Trump's lap. He avoided discussing Florida issues, preferring to pontificate on national topics that have nothing to do with being Florida's governor. He's only now rolling out policy papers on issues such as the environment and education.
You have to wonder if DeSantis could find Key West on a map even with the help of Jimmy Buffett, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams. But he does know the way to Mar-A-Lago.
And he is more than familiar with the dark art of demagoguery.
At the moment, the two candidates are dithering over a debate schedule. You have to suspect the mayor will press DeSantis to explain his views on the Florida Constitution with respect to imposing a state income tax. And DeSantis also will be asked how he arrived at the conclusion Gillum is a champion of the child molester community?
Ah, hmmm, cough is not an acceptable response.