MSNBC’s Joy Reid accused Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) and other Republicans of secretly loving “big, big government.”
On Thursday, Reid highlighted a bill being co-sponsored by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and George Santos (R-NY) would implement more policing over the books allowed in public schools. The lawmakers claim the intention is to prevent the “sexualization of children,” but critics believe such a bill could limit LGBTQ-related materials from being allowed in schools.
Speaking with MSNBC contributor David Jolly, Reid accused Greene and Santos of pulling from the “Ron DeSantis playbook,” referring to the governor similarly announcing books in public schools needing to be vetted for explicit material.
Jolly said DeSantis, a frequent target of hers, and others are not concerned with explicit material being pushed to kids but are actually concerned books might turn kids gay.
“First and foremost, this is a group of people that believe reading a book can make you gay. Think about it. That’s their biggest concern,” he said. “If you read a book, you might decide you’re gay. Secondly, qualitatively, their assessment is that if you’re LGBTQ, that somehow that’s wrong, that you’re not allowed to be, that somehow that’s an offense to society.”
He added that “kids are being exposed diversity” for the first time, dismissing arguments that politicians like DeSantis are responding to worries from parents about the appropriateness of material they are exposed to.
Reid saw irony in the whole situation, claiming DeSantis, who made his name as one of the most vocal critics of Covid lockdowns, loves the very thing he and others accuse Democrats of loving: big government.
Republicans, she feared, have announced to the world in Captain Phillips-style: “We’re the librarian now.”
“The thing that’s ironic about all of this, David, is that they think the solution to what they see as a societal ills is big, big government,” she said. “It’s the governor of Florida telling you specifically what books you can read. It’s the government deciding specifically what teachers can teach. It’s literal government thought control and that’s what they accuse the left of, but they’re the ones saying, ‘no, no, no, don’t worry about it, parents. We got this. We’ll put the books into the hands of your children. Wipe them off the library shelves. We’re the librarian now.’
Watch above via MSNBC
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