Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is asking for millions of taxpayer funds to create his own civilian military force, separate from the existing National Guard. CNN reports that the Republican Governor seems “to reestablish a World War II-era civilian military force that he, not the Pentagon, would control.” All National Guard members must be vaccinated, so perhaps this is just DeSantis once again being on COVID’s side of the battle.
“DeSantis pitched the idea Thursday as a way to further support the Florida National Guard during emergencies, like hurricanes,” the outlet reports. “The Florida National Guard has also played a vital role during the pandemic in administering Covid-19 tests and distributing vaccines.”
U.S. Congressman Charlie Crist, running to unseat DeSantis, called DeSantis’ civilian military force his own “handpicked secret police.”
No Governor should have his own handpicked secret police. https://t.co/BWEPhM5rHa
— Charlie Crist (@CharlieCrist) December 2, 2021
There have been 3.69 million COVID-19 cases in Florida, yet somehow, this guy’s focus is on a civilian-military force. DeSantis claims it’s needed to respond to events in Florida in a practical way, but the pandemic is here now, so I’m not following his train of thought. He’s saying this is for future events when he should be dealing with the pandemic right now.
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‘But in a nod to the growing tension between Republican states and the Biden administration over the National Guard, DeSantis also said this unit, called the Florida State Guard, would be “not encumbered by the federal government,”‘ CNN reports. “He said this force would give him “the flexibility and the ability needed to respond to events in our state in the most effective way possible.” DeSantis is proposing bringing it back with a volunteer force of 200 civilians, and he is seeking $3.5 million from the state legislature in startup costs to train and equip them.”
Watch:
For some reason, Ron Desantis now feels the need to create a state militia under his control. pic.twitter.com/q4EJUEGG4i
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 3, 2021
This didn’t go down well on Twitter.
DeSantis also said this unit would be “not encumbered by the federal government.” In other words it would be Ron DeSantis personal militia. You know like political leaders in Iraq and Syria have. #TrumpsRedArmy https://t.co/rmZ93fa7mr
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) December 3, 2021
The dick of the day trophy goes to sociopath Ron DeSantis for announcing he’ll establish his own personal militia in Florida that he controls—one he insists will not be “encumbered by the federal government.”
He wants his own brown shirts.
Horrifying psycho.#DickOfTheDay 🏆
— Jason Overstreet (@JasonOverstreet) December 3, 2021
I think the worst part of this is that those who volunteer are going to be like-minded so that there will be no counterbalancing rational point of view when Desantis comes up with some crazy way to “deploy” his forces A militia made up of the “Florida man” type sounds horrifying
— Kerri Carlin (@kcarlin25) December 3, 2021
This is the beginning of building a separate military force in America to exert physical force and intimidation against our people who demand we preserve our Constitution and democracy. I never thought I’d ever see this in my lifetime.
— Sharon Zatopek (@skzatopek) December 3, 2021
Is being a sociopath a requirement to join the Republican party these days?
Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0
