Yet conservatives are overstating DeSantis’s dedication to liberty. This is the same governor whose staff worked with Disney to make sure it was exempt from Florida’s bill cracking down on so-called “Big Tech oligarchs.” Mickey Mouse and DeSantis may disagree on diversity training and “Don’t Say Gay,” but they’ll still work together when it suits both of their agendas.

“You can’t just say private companies can do whatever the hell they want to,” the Republican said in a rather populist and national-conservative tone last month to an audience at Hillsdale College. “They are not the friend of conservatives right now; they are not the friend of freedom. They are using these harmful ideologies and we have a responsibility to stand up and fight against it.”…

Voting for someone because they’re “not Trump” is a bad idea. That’s not meant as a defense of Trump; it’s just to point out that sometimes people get so caught up in the idea of “anyone but ____” that they become blind to the flaws of the person they’re defending. There are popular politicians out there who have said things that allegedly make small-c, weaker-government conservatives cringe, but they remain interested in them nonetheless because they’re “not Trump.”