The Last Florida Man to Try This Political Playbook

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American Hysteria is a podcast that explores fantastical thinking, moral panics, and urban legends to understand how they've long shaped our culture. With topics like Stranger Danger, The Gay Agenda, Satanic Colts, The Westboro Baptist Church, and Phantom Clowns, the show is sometimes hilarious, sometimes horrifying, and sometimes heartfelt. Today's news requires more facts, more context, and more analysis. That's why it's never been more important to try.

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