Donald, I think you have finally met your match, though I know you never believed that could happen. You have been the king of nasty rhetoric, the prince of threats to anyone who might disagree or, heaven forbid, ever try to hold you accountable for your corrupt and illegal activities. But, Donald, there now appears to be another Republican with an even bigger, more outright racist, and dare I say it, fascist voice striving to leave you panting in the dust.

I bet you’re wondering as you read this, Donald, who I might be referring to. Or maybe you already know. Perhaps you’ve watched his latest violent, threatening statement made at a barbeque in Rye, New Hampshire to his campaign supporters. I know you can’t imagine anyone more power-hungry and dangerous than you, but I fear that we might have found someone who meets those criteria.

It’s Ronald, Donald. Ronald DeSantis, the governor of Florida. Yes, him, the prince of anti-woke, anti-gay, anti-history, anti-immigrant, and maybe even anti-people aside from himself, his wife and those three adorable kidlets.

So, what did Ronald say at that barbeque, Donald? — “All these Deep State people, we’re going to start slitting throats on Day one.” Slitting throats? Donald, I can only imagine how annoyed you must have been after watching that video of Ronald. You probably up and fired one of your speech writers for failing to come up with that juicy hunk of violent rhetoric. Oh wait, you don’t have speech writers, do you, Donald? You think whatever comes out of your mouth is the best speech anyone every wrote in the history of this country, and your supporters agree wholeheartedly.

You definitely missed an opportunity, Donald. Ronald sure out-trumped you, didn’t he? And Deep State? I guess he meant all those hard-working government employees who have dedicated their lives and careers to keeping this country running; to protecting our democracy; to making sure that our air, water and food are safe; to defending our country against all who would try to undermine it.

Yes, Donald, Ronald wants to slit their throats on Day One of his presidential administration. I bet if I asked him, Ronald would say that he only meant to cut those people’s jobs, not their throats. But how are we to know that? That’s not what he said, is it? And no doubt, Donald, Ronald has just stolen some of your more extreme supporters from you. You only attempted a coup, Donald. Ronald will encourage his supporters to slit the throats of those who oppose him.

Here’s something I bet you don’t know, Donald. Ronald has his very own Florida taxpayer supported militia that reports directly to him. I bet you were too busy spending your loyal supporters’ campaign donations on your army of lawyers to notice. How many criminal indictments is it now, Donald? Two? No, I believe we’re up to three and it sure looks like there’s more coming down the pike.

Ronald has moved far beyond trying to be you, Donald. Looks more like he’s shooting to be more of a Mussolini type of guy than a Trump one. Do you even know who Mussolini is, Donald? You can Google him. Ronald has passed some very fascist-like restrictions in his state and so far has gotten away with it. As an example, in Ronald’s Florida, teachers can now be fired for reading to students children’s books that are on a banned book list. What’s on the list, you ask, Donald? Well, books that might mention LBGTQ+ lives and issues, the true history of slavery in America, and anything Ronald considers woke.

Woke, Donald, in case you don’t know, is mostly about DEI – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Anti-woke is about eliminating all programs that would further the cause of DEI and that’s what Ronald stands for. In his world, children will be taught that slaves benefited from slavery.

I’m quite aware, Donald, that you are polling well ahead of Ronald in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. But Ronald’s latest throat slitting rhetoric just might give him a big lift in those polls.

Wait, did I just say that? Violent threats to government employees might make Ronald more popular than you, Donald?

Yes, that’s just what I said and as terrifying as it sounds, that no doubt is the case. We live in dangerous times. That a presidential candidate of one of our two major political parties would utter such words in public at a campaign event shows how close to the edge of the abyss we have come.

Karen Gardner, of Haydenville, can be reached at opinion@gazettenet.com.

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