The Rise and Fall of a Conservative Florida Democrat

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Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is using Florida as his political demonstration project for the country. He's threatening teachers with firing or even worse for teaching civil rights history, banning gender affirming care for trans people and treating families with trans kids like their criminals. This was 1964 in Florida. And that craze in Republican politics is of course not limited to Florida today. We're trying this all over now anywhere Republicans are in control of state government. But Florida has taken the lead on this. It turns out Florida has been here before.

Long before Governor Ron DeSantis declared a new war on wokeness, Florida lawmakers in the 1950s and 60s tried going after the NAACP, suspected communists and gay people in Florida schools and universities. The lawmakers upended life for countless numbers of their fellow Floridians before being upended themselves by their own zeal for the cause. Now that DeSantis is bringing this playbook to a presidential campaign, Rachel Maddow and Isaac-Davy Aronson ask what we can learn from the last time Florida went down this path.

Featuring guests:

Stacy Braukman, author of Communists and Perverts Under the Palms: The Johns Committee in Florida, 1956-1965

Shevrin Jones, Florida State Senator

Robert Buccellatto, historian and co-host of the Florida History Podcast