Ron DeSantis' Martha's Vineyard stunt is straight out of Stormfront

[Nevilledog]

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Amanda Marcotte
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The "shipping migrants" stunt is dehumanizing and bizarre. And it's no wonder why: DeSantis and Abbott are taking ideas straight out of Stormfront and other violent white nationalist groups and trying to mainstream them.

salon.com
Ron DeSantis' Martha's Vineyard stunt is straight out of Stormfront
Republican governors "shipping" migrants off is a dehumanizing stunt — and it's meant to be one.
10:37 AM · Sep 16, 2022

https://www.salon.com/2022/09/16/ron-desantis-marthas-vineyard-stunt-is-straight-out-of-stormfront-and-border-militia-rhetoric/

For months, Republican governors eager to get a piece of Donald Trump's ability to get attention through race-baiting have engaged in a bizarre and dehumanizing stunt: Sending busloads of often deeply confused refugees to places perceived as "liberal enclaves." Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has sent buses of immigrants to Washington D.C. and New York City, claiming that he's somehow exposing the hypocrisy of Democratic leaders who have said immigrants are welcome. In April, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans to use taxpayer funds to bus migrants to blue states, saying, "if you sent them to Delaware or Martha's Vineyard or some of these places, that border would be secure the next day."

The ugly troll leveled up this week, when DeSantis did just that, chartering planes to Martha's Vineyard carrying about 50 people who recently arrived from Colombia and Venezuela. Martha's Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts, is known as a vacation spot for wealthy East Coast types. It's clear DeSantis was hoping to elicit an outraged reaction from residents that would "prove" his point about blue state liberals. That ended up backfiring, as the migrants received a warm welcome instead of a hostile reaction. As Heather "Digby" Parton wrote at Salon, the locals at Martha's Vineyard offered "the new arrivals food and shelter, along with legal advice and emotional support." Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., responded by tweeting that "Massachusetts is fully capable of handling asylum seekers." It was soon revealed that the refugees had been recruited to get on the planes with lies about how they were going to Boston to find jobs.

Conservative media is trying to salvage this by running headlines that focus on Democratic anger, while ignoring that the anger is over the inhumane treatment and not over the idea of immigrants living in New York, D.C. or Massachusetts. But what they and DeSantis should have already known is that this stunt was unlikely to expose "liberal hypocrisy." After all, Abbott's been doing this for months, with little effect, for one obvious reason: The big blue cities that draw so much vitriol from right-wing pundits are already diverse places with large immigrant populations.

And yet, as DeSantis' failed attempt at leveling up the troll shows, Republican politicians are still clinging to the idea that there's a vein of liberal hypocrisy to be tapped on this front. What's little discussed, however, is where this idea came from. The notion that white liberals want diversity for others, but not themselves, has become an article of faith on the mainstream right only recently, after being heavily hyped by folks like Tucker Carlson of Fox News. Where it came from originally, however, is from fringe white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups, and from the white supremacist forum Stormfront in particular.

*snip*

[usonian]

1. CAGEMATCH. DeSantis and DeTrumpis.

Second Amendment Rules!

[Meadowoak]

2. Depends?

[alphafemale]

4. Shitheel and his Russian flag lapel pin.

Where his loyalties lie.

[Kid Berwyn]

3. That is their M.O.

Making the unspeakable NAZI approach acceptable.

Miami Herald editorial board has asked DeSadist to renounce NAZI and KKK supporters to no avail.

[Initech]

5. This whole thing was a campaign stunt to win points on conservative talk shows.

And that's about it. Fuck right wing talk shows to the highest circle of hell.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. DeathSantis and Greg Abbott are in a contest to out asshole TFG

I am amused that Abbott thinks that he is a contended for the 2014 nomination, but Abbott is trying to out asshole DeathSantis to be the frontrunner if TFG is convicted. Both have engaged in serious election denial and voter suppression. Abbott started banning gendering affirming treatment for Trans youths and DeathSantis has followed.

Greg got a leg up on DeathSantis by bussing refugees and asylum seekers up to Democratic controlled cities and so DeathSantis had to get into this violation of the law and civil rights.

The goal of both of these assholes is to appeal to TFG supporters and try to be the GOP 2024 nominee. This contest is really sad and innocent persons/refugees are being hurt

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https://www.rawstory.com/ron-desantis-tries-to-trump-trump-with-cynical-sadistic-migrant-flights/

There were so many scandals during the Trump years that it's hard to remember all. Some stand out, of course, like his blatant obstruction of justice in the Russia investigation and his attempted extortion against the Ukrainian government in hopes of smearing Joe Biden. And of course Trump went out with a bang, attempting a coup and inciting an insurrection. Those things got him impeached — and may end up getting him indicted. But there was so much more......

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott apparently saluted smartly and got right to work. By early August he was sending busloads of asylum-seekers to New York and Washington, D.C., "as part of the Governor's response to the Biden Administration's open border policies," as an official statement from his office put it. (Never mind that the Biden administration has no such policies.)

Those two cities have been coping with the influx, and a number of charities and churches have stepped in to help. This is stretching their already stretched systems, but so far no one has even contemplated putting the migrants on buses back to Houston or San Antonio (or maybe to other red-state cities) because the officials in New York and D.C., whatever their flaws, aren't monsters. They are trying to figure out ways to help these people find family members and get jobs and housing as they await hearings on whether they qualify to stay in the U.S.

Not to be outdone by Abbott's stunt, the GOP's current troll king, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, decided this week to take Carlson's advice to send asylum seekers to Martha's Vineyard, the affluent resort island off the coast of Massachusetts. Even though Florida is not a border state, DeSantis has already had the state legislature appropriate millions for the purpose of sending migrants out of state. (His lieutenant governor made a major gaffe, however, when she suggested the state might use that money to send the recent influx of Cuban refugees back to that island, a huge political no-no in Florida.)

Since DeSantis didn't have any refugees readily available to expel this week, he used his forced deportation money to charter a couple of jets and coerce migrants who were in Texas — halfway across the country — to board them, claiming they were being sent to Boston with promises of resources and support. Instead the migrants were dropped off on Martha's Vineyard, a famous summer resort with a year-round population of around 15,000. No one there knew they were coming, and they were essentially dumped at the island's tiny airport like cargo.

This contest is sick and sad. I was pleased to see the good people of Martha' Vineyard step up

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I am hopeful that DeathSantis and Abbott will be prosecuted for these stunts

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[sop]

7. "The anger is over the inhumane treatment and not over the idea of immigrants living in New York,

D.C. or Massachusetts." This distinction escapes racists like DeSantis, Abbott and their white supremacist followers.

[magicarpet]

8. Has the team of preposterous political stunt men,...

.... at Project Veritas taken over the media messaging at The New AmeriKKKan Fascist Republican Party ?

These political stunts are real impish and juvenile.
By chance is James O'Keefe somehow involved ?

[alphafemale]

9. It is not a stunt. It was kidnapping.

[Buckeyeblue]

10. What will this do to his Cuban support? And other non-maga supporters?

I know Cuban exiles and their families are reliably Republican. But it seems like this stunt may hit them too close to home. And others who are more centric must think this is horrible.

DeSantis must think he needed to do this to get reelected. Otherwise, why do it right now?

Makes me think their internal polling is not favorable and he is going full maga to keep the base motivated.

I would say the same thing about Abbott.

[bluecollar2]

11. Cuban support will not change

Venezuelans are not Cubans. Haitians are not Cubans. Mexicans are not Cubans.

The ugly fact here is that local, state, and government officials and their supporters are quick to raise their voices if the issue involves Cubans but will remain largely silent if the issue involves others.

There appears to be a sense of national exceptionalism in the community in that the rules don't apply to them.

Their hypocrisy though, is beginning to "irritate" others and you can expect South Florida voter suppression tactics to be spectacular in November and in 2024.

[Liberal In Texas]

12. The "Liberal Outrage" that they don't want the immigrants is a made-up meme.

It's a lie. It's propaganda. it's a way for them to trigger the base: "See they're hypocrites!" And it's a way to change the news coverage from TFG's treason to something they think will change the dialogue.