In 2021, Ron DeSantis as governor of Florida proposed the idea of a state guard. Now,
this would be a quasi-military force controlled exclusively by the governor of Florida, whoever
it happens to be. Just so happens that it's Ron DeSantis. And shortly thereafter, the Republican
controlled state legislature passed legislation. DeSantis signed it, giving him his state guard,
which officially became a reality last year. So was proposed in 2021. In 2022, it became a
reality. Now here we are in 2023 and according to a massive new report, multiple military veterans
that had been essentially recruited or volunteered to be a part of this, you know, disaster response,
quasi-military force, they've now resigned saying that they were lied to and that this entire
operation is being trained as if it is a personal militia under the sole command of Ron DeSantis.
Let me read you this. This is from the Guardian outlining the concerns that these military
veterans have about what's actually happening. And again, it's important to remember that this
state guard, that DeSantis enpaneled, it was supposed to be for disaster response. We got
lots of disasters here in Florida. We have floods all the time, and of course we're right there in
hurricane alley. So we get hurricanes typically at least once a year and we do need some kind of
response force. And that's what these people thought they were signing up for. Turns out
they were wrong. Here's what the Guardian says. Volunteers have been trained for military combat,
including the use of weapons. And this is coming from the people who resigned who were a part of
it. Khaki polo shirts and pants were replaced by camouflage uniforms and recruits were barked at by
bootcamp. Instructors at the joint training base who woke them up before dawn and imposed lights
out by 10:00 PM. Additionally, DeSantis compliant Republican led state legislature has contributed
to the change of direction this year approving a massive expansion in the forces funding size and
equipment. Its budget increased from 10 million to 107.5 million and its maximum size more
than tripled from 400 recruits to 1500. On the governor's shopping list were helicopters, boats,
police powers, and reportedly even cell phone hacking technology for a force outside a federal
jurisdiction and accountable directly to him. So Republicans increased the budget
10 times more than what they had already been given. They tripled more than tripled the
size of this force. They want to give them helicopters, police boats, police powers.
They're training them on how to use high powered weaponry.
They're giving them cell phone hacking technology. And this is a military force. The that,
as the report said, is outside of the jurisdiction of the federal government,
they're accountable to only one man. And that man happens to be right now Ron DeSantis,
he is creating his own militia. That is what these military veterans who spent decades in
the military before signing up for this thing. That's what they're saying. And these are,
by the way, people who had supported Ron DeSantis. So it's not like you had a bunch of, you know,
progressives that are trying to make all these claims. No, these are former DeSantis supporters.
Notice I said former because they see what he's doing. This is fascism at work folks.
I this, this maneuver by Ron DeSantis and these idiot Florida Republicans
should be considered illegal. And maybe it is, maybe nobody's challenged it in
court. I don't know. I haven't seen that there's been legal challenges to this,
but this seems 100% out of the scope of what a state governor should be allowed to do.
And those of us who live down here in Florida now, we got another thing to worry about. It's
not just the extreme heat, the extreme weather. It's not just the book bans the targeting of
certain portions of our population through legislation. Now we apparently have to be
constantly looking over our shoulders to see if DeSantis militarized police
force that only answers to him is gonna be knocking down our doors any minute now.
Thanks for watching everyone, and well, here comes the awkward part at the end of the video
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