Plan to solve Florida’s non-existent protest problem is pure ‘mini-Trump’

For many who heard Ron DeSantis outline his proposed “Combatting Violence, Disorder and Looting Act” it was a head-scratcher.

Why would Florida’s Republican governor suddenly be pushing severe penalties on protesters in a state that escaped the disorder of summer Black Lives Matter gatherings elsewhere? Why threaten to withhold state money from municipalities that defund police even as Florida cities including Miami and Tampa were actually increasing law enforcement spending?

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To Democrats, civil rights advocates, voters’ groups and others who have studied the behavior of a politician they see as a mini-Donald Trump, the governor’s solving of problems that appear not to exist was no mystery.

A strong law-and-order pitch to voters in the key swing state just weeks before a presidential election deflected attention from a botched response to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 14,000 in Florida, they say. And it echoed the fearmongering tactics employed on a national scale that Trump believes will win him a second term in the White House.

“He doesn’t want us to address his terrible track record so he’s using law and order as an election stunt to distract and scare voters,” said Anna Eskamani, a Democratic state representative for Orlando.

“It’s a complete act [and] Governor DeSantis is taking a page from Trump’s playbook.”

Eskamani and her colleagues see the DeSantis proposals, which the governor said he wants passed by the state legislature as early as November, as “fear-based legislation” and an assault on first amendment rights.

They include a six-month prison sentence for anybody striking or throwing objects at law enforcement officers and designate gatherings of seven or more people resulting in injury or property damage as unlawful. Additionally, any driver who injures or kills a person during such a gathering will not be held liable – raising the prospect of almost legalizing vehicular attacks on protests.

“We already have laws on the books against violent acts. And calls for racial justice in Florida have been overwhelmingly peaceful,” Eskamani said. “I know, I have marched in protest alongside others. Anyone who dares to hit someone or break property, they are arrested.”

The controversy came in a busy week for the election in Florida during which mail-in voting began and polls showed Trump virtually tied with his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, after trailing all year.

DeSantis drew criticism for announcing on Friday that he was removing most remaining coronavirus restrictions even though the state is still a hotspot. Also capturing attention was an escalating spat between DeSantis’s administration and Michael Bloomberg, the Democratic former presidential candidate who provided $16m to pay off court fees and fines of convicted felons so they could vote.

“Timing is everything in politics and they must have seen the same polling showing up in ABC that law and order was number three issue in this election after the economy and Covid,” said Susan MacManus, professor emeritus of political science at the University of South Florida.

“Older people don’t like unsettling times, the riots and the violence. On top of some of the other things that are happening, it could be just unsettling enough to cause some of those who were going to vote for Biden to come back home and vote for Trump,” she added.

DeSantis himself acknowledged his manifesto was not built on anything that had taken place in the state.

“We have seen attacks on law enforcement, we’ve seen disorder and tumult in many cities. I will not allow this kind of violence to occur here in Florida,” he said during a press conference in Winter Haven, at which he was flanked by senior state Republicans and law enforcement officials.

Equality advocates are particularly outraged at the loosely defined clause removing criminal liability from drivers “fleeing for safety from a mob”.

“[It] would protect individuals who injure protesters with their vehicles just three years after Heather Heyer, an anti-racism activist, was murdered when a white supremacist drove his vehicle into a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia,” said Andrea Mercado, executive director of the political organising group New Florida Majority.

Some local government officials, meanwhile, decry the governor’s threat to hold back state money from municipalities perceived to have “defunded” police.

“It seeks to bully local governments from reallocating law enforcement budgets and seeking reforms like we’re trying to do,” said Sabrina Javellana, vice-mayor of Hallandale Beach.

“Sanctions only hurt the people he is purporting to help. Many crimes are committed out of poverty. If we can reduce poverty we can reduce crime.”

Shevrin Jones, a Democratic state senator-elect, said DeSantis was guilty of “blatant overreach” by seeking to criminalize protests.

“I am confident that all Floridians, white, black, brown, will see this for what it is, a desperate violation of our constitutional rights just ahead of a critical election in which every single vote counts,” he said.

“We’re going to fight this tooth and nail. You’ve just declared war on our civil rights. We’re prepared to strap up our boots and in the spirit of John Lewis get in some good trouble.”