Since I didn't actually watch the "debate", I went looking for more Monday-morning quarterbacking of the event. After that quest, I've some to the conclusion that folks on every side will see in it just what they wanted to see, rather than any objective assessments.
For example, here is the Left-wing take on the debate, declaring Newsome the clear winner, in accordance with their own spin:
Notice first the splash screen of the video, showing Newsome to be composed and confident, with Desantis wide-eyed like a deer caught in the headlights. That's where the propaganda in this video starts - right at the beginning, before the video even runs.
Then notice the commentator consistently calling Desantis a "MAGA Republican", employing a dog-whistle the Left is currently hammering hard in order to attempt to rally their troops against no actual threat, but a perceived threat they have largely created themselves by employing that particular phrase. Notice also the commentators consistent and constant employment of the phrase "pro-democracy" in regard to Gavin Newsome - also a current dog-whistle intended to rally the Left in their quest for power.
Butbutbut -"Democracy" is supposed to be a GOOD thing, isn't it?
In the context "democracy" is currently being used by the Left, they intend it to have connotations of empowering "the people", but in reality they intend it to be employed in a totalitarian manner - all they have to do is convince 51% of the wolves that the other 49% of the sheep are on the menu. The goal of their brand of "democracy" is not freedom nor empowerment of the people, it is enslavement of those same people by the stratagem of convincing 51% to willfully work against their own freedom and concurrently eliminate the freedom of the other 49% by force... and then they will call that "the will of the People", and claim "the People have spoken" in order to support their draconian takeover.
That's not how our "democracy" is supposed to work. It's why the founders hedged against that sort of authoritarianism by declaring a Republic rather than a Democracy here, and it is why they enshrined certain rights as sacrosanct, out of the reach and power of governmental control. In those two ways, the Founders meant to protect the rights of individuals and minorities. It worked pretty well for about 80 years, until the Totalitarians started taking over and ignoring those protections, crowing about "democracy" in a land where democracy and true freedom no longer existed, being trampled underfoot by Marx's "Dictatorship of the Proletariat", which is the current brand of "democracy" slowly but certainly eroding the rights of individuals and minorities that the Founders meant to protect..
One wonders just how they will react when that brand of "democracy" is blatantly turned against their own self-interests once control of the individual minds are seized. It'll be too late for them then... how will they react to that?
What the "democracy" mongers fail to grasp is that if one is not free, then NONE are really free - the powers of the tyranny of the majority can be brought to bear on any one, at any time, for any reason... and they may be next on the chop block after they subdue the rest of us.
It was interesting to see both sides complain about the other side "talking over" them while at the same time doing the same thing themselves... hypocrisy much?
All in all, this seemed to be more of an argument than an actual debate, and I suspect it will be used by both sides to further and support their own individual propaganda campaigns.
.
For example, here is the Left-wing take on the debate, declaring Newsome the clear winner, in accordance with their own spin:
Notice first the splash screen of the video, showing Newsome to be composed and confident, with Desantis wide-eyed like a deer caught in the headlights. That's where the propaganda in this video starts - right at the beginning, before the video even runs.
Then notice the commentator consistently calling Desantis a "MAGA Republican", employing a dog-whistle the Left is currently hammering hard in order to attempt to rally their troops against no actual threat, but a perceived threat they have largely created themselves by employing that particular phrase. Notice also the commentators consistent and constant employment of the phrase "pro-democracy" in regard to Gavin Newsome - also a current dog-whistle intended to rally the Left in their quest for power.
Butbutbut -"Democracy" is supposed to be a GOOD thing, isn't it?
In the context "democracy" is currently being used by the Left, they intend it to have connotations of empowering "the people", but in reality they intend it to be employed in a totalitarian manner - all they have to do is convince 51% of the wolves that the other 49% of the sheep are on the menu. The goal of their brand of "democracy" is not freedom nor empowerment of the people, it is enslavement of those same people by the stratagem of convincing 51% to willfully work against their own freedom and concurrently eliminate the freedom of the other 49% by force... and then they will call that "the will of the People", and claim "the People have spoken" in order to support their draconian takeover.
That's not how our "democracy" is supposed to work. It's why the founders hedged against that sort of authoritarianism by declaring a Republic rather than a Democracy here, and it is why they enshrined certain rights as sacrosanct, out of the reach and power of governmental control. In those two ways, the Founders meant to protect the rights of individuals and minorities. It worked pretty well for about 80 years, until the Totalitarians started taking over and ignoring those protections, crowing about "democracy" in a land where democracy and true freedom no longer existed, being trampled underfoot by Marx's "Dictatorship of the Proletariat", which is the current brand of "democracy" slowly but certainly eroding the rights of individuals and minorities that the Founders meant to protect..
One wonders just how they will react when that brand of "democracy" is blatantly turned against their own self-interests once control of the individual minds are seized. It'll be too late for them then... how will they react to that?
What the "democracy" mongers fail to grasp is that if one is not free, then NONE are really free - the powers of the tyranny of the majority can be brought to bear on any one, at any time, for any reason... and they may be next on the chop block after they subdue the rest of us.
It was interesting to see both sides complain about the other side "talking over" them while at the same time doing the same thing themselves... hypocrisy much?
All in all, this seemed to be more of an argument than an actual debate, and I suspect it will be used by both sides to further and support their own individual propaganda campaigns.
.