Aiden Lutjen, contributor

CW: Brief mention of Hitler and Nazis

Imagine being so visibly and shamelessly hateful towards multiple groups of innocent people that by the time this definitely hypothetical organization is barely two and a half years old, it’s already put on a civil rights watchdog’s hate group and extremism list. What a feat! Now imagine that one of the founders of that very same hate group is appointed into an official government position! An extremist leader being in a position of true power? Thanks to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, we don’t have to imagine that. DeSantis appointed Tina Descovich to be one of two individuals on the Commission on Ethics on July 27. 

Tina Descovich, who used to be on Florida’s school board, is the co-founder of the very conservative non-profit organization “Moms for Liberty” created in 2021. This organization is a self-proclaimed “parents rights advocacy group” – or what I like to call them, parents who can’t fathom the concept that their children aren’t mini-me’s and that marginalized groups aren’t evil devil worshippers, but I digress. The organization is vehemently against media or school curriculum that teaches diversity: sexuality, gender identity, race, religion, etc. and they often campaign to ban these works from school altogether – mainly surrounding LGBTQ+ topics and critical race theory. 

People who support the organization insist that it’s nothing more than a group wanting to prevent the government from encroaching on our children’s classrooms and preying on their vulnerable minds to further a harmful political agenda. People who are opposed to Moms for Liberty, however, point at their blatant and shameless racism, queerphobia, the anti-science viewpoints and their undisguised pro-Christianity at the expense of all other forms of belief. Oh, and we certainly can’t forget the time they literally quoted Hitler in their newsletter, which they then tried to subtly cover-up as some kind of “critique” – which, of course, didn’t work! Even with all of that in mind, the absurd hate, lack of human compassion and the perversion of Christianity, Ron DeSantis still elected Tina Descovich as a part of Florida’s ethics panel. Let me say that again: the ETHICS panel.

Personally, if I was in a position of power and was told to elect a handful of people to help me out in the ethics department, literally the last person I’d ever set my sights on would be a Nazi-sympathizing, Christian-centric, racist, transphobic, hate group leader. “Nazi” and “ethics” together just feels like an oxymoron to me. How can someone be trusted to be “ethical” in any possible way when they didn’t even see a single issue in quoting Hitler in a positive light? But I digress once again, it’s not much use trying to understand what goes through DeSantis’ head. Not only does this put groups of people that aren’t white, straight, cisgender men in immediate danger of hate crimes, it will also protect those committing the hate crimes and they will be uplifted by their government for doing so. But it’s also clearly such a powerful statement to appoint that particular person in that particular role – we know what DeSantis is saying by doing this: “I don’t care about you. I care about myself and my image and my audience that I’ve carefully manipulated.” It’s like he’s a little, somehow more pathetic, and demented Donald Trump. And what’s especially scary to think about: DeSantis is running for the 2024 presidency.