DeSantis The COVID Bully

I can't keep up with this shit (via USA Today):

The state "could" defund the salaries of district superintendents and county school board members who mandate mask wearing in schools, according to a statement from Gov. Ron DeSantis' office. 

The statement comes as the latest salvo in an ongoing battle over mandating masks in schools, a fight that has flared in school districts across the country as the pandemic resurges as the school year is set to start...

At least one superintendent offered an immediate defiant response. Leon County Superintendent Hanna told school officials at a meeting Monday afternoon "you can't put a price tag on someone's life, including my salary."

“We want to make sure that children also have access to a high-quality education but they can’t if they’re sick and in the hospital,” he added. Hours earlier, Hanna announced that students in elementary and middle schools will be required to wear masks as the upcoming school year begins in Tallahassee...

DeSantis has been running around, acting like he's on top of things, like he's got COVID-19 beat, that all of the talk about the Delta variant surge is just panicking from hospital admins and doctors.

DeSantis wants to pretend he knows what's best. DeSantis is buying into the Far Right Narrative that masks "destroys our Freedoms." Because DeSantis knows damn well pandering to that Narrative is how he wins the Presidential nomination in 2024 (he's gambling trump will be in jail by then). 

DeSantis wants to show that Florida's economy is running strong: That everyone's back to work in offices and eateries and tourist traps, and smiling happily at crappy wages and increased exposure to the pandemic. But he can't get everyone back into the offices and coffee shops if the kids are still at home needing parental supervision, so he's GOT to ship all the kids back to in-person classrooms that also work well as super-spreader locations. It matters not that children under 12 can't yet qualify for the vaccines (we're not sure it's safe yet for those ages). It sure as hell doesn't matter to DeSantis that the prominent Delta variant is more lethal to the young.

Above all: DeSantis cannot abide anyone ranked lower than he is on the chain of command doing something that makes HIM look bad. Having all these school board commissioners and superintendents speaking to student safety makes HIM look bad.

So DeSantis is going to threaten, to bully, to scare those lesser mortals into bending to HIS will.

No matter the cost to the number of dying and sick children in the GREAT STATE OF FLORIDA.

All hail DeSantis! All hail the King of COVID-19!

HIS public image matters more than our lives, after all.