NBC News Claims DeSantis Opposing Vax Mandates Echoes “Trump’s Autocratic Aspirations”
December 9, 2021 Updated 5:28 P.M. ET
TALLAHASSEE (FCV) – NBC News opinion author Ruth Ben-Ghiat claimed Thursday that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ (R) policies like “opposing Covid vaccination mandates” creates “environments conducive to authoritarianism.”
In a new hit piece being mocked by conservatives like DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw, Ben-Ghiat claims that forming the Florida State Guard, which answers only to the governor and is the same system 22 other states have, is “very much in keeping with [Trump’s autocratic] trend.”
“The question is more whether, given his consistently autocratic tendencies, he can be trusted with [a state guard],” the author claimed.
The article has conservatives mocking NBC News for publishing the anti-DeSantis hit piece, mainly because it outlines some of DeSantis’ policies that empower individual rights, like the right to make personal health decisions, to paint him as authoritarian.
According to Merriam-Webster, ‘authoritarian’ means “of, relating to, or favoring a concentration of power in a leader or an elite not constitutionally responsible to the people.”
Policies like preventing the indoctrination of schoolchildren in public schools and limiting governmental authority to control personal lives of its citizens are pro-individual rights and less government-oriented.
On the other hand, governments like New York City under Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio take an authoritarian, autocratic approach where one leader can mandate that children aged 5-11 must show vaccination proof to enter a movie theater.
