Welcome to the Grift, Ron DeSantis!

The thing about Republicans is that they are remarkably consistent.

Whenever they do something, it is for a reason. Whereas Democrats are often working from a place of caring and compassion, Republicans are working from a place of paranoia and profit. If there is a vulnerable community to exploit to drum up fear, Republicans will do so in a heartbeat. But in drumming up fear, Republicans will also look at ways in which this fear can be used to personally profit, whether it's by fundraising, campaign contributions, or, as we've seen time and time again with this administration, using inside knowledge to profit off the fluctuating market. While Republican members of Congress have been the major beneficiaries these first 5 months, there's hardly a lack of opportunities for other members of the party. Take Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, for example. From Rolling Stone:

Earlier Tuesday, Bloomberg News identified several contractors working on Alligator Alcatraz — a group of disaster relief firms selected by Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, which is part of DeSantis’ administration.

Among the contractors is CDR Companies, which Bloomberg reported “will run medical services and did some site preparation.” CDR’s president Carlos Duart and businesses affiliated with his firm have made significant donations to DeSantis and Trump, as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

CDR Enterprises donated $1 million in December 2023 to Fight Right Inc., a super PAC that supported DeSantis’ presidential campaign. Late last year, DeSantis announced he was appointing Duart to the board of trustees at Florida International University, and named his wife, Tina Vidal-Duart, to the Florida Atlantic University Board of Trustees.

Last June, CDR Maguire Inc. donated $400,000 to Right for America, a pro-Trump Super PAC. Duart donated $500,000 to the Trump 47 Committee in October. He also gave $148,000 in December to the Kennedy Victory Fund, helping RFK Jr. clear some of his campaign debt.

Bloomberg reported that SLSCO Ltd., a construction company in Galveston, Texas, is also involved with Alligator Alcatraz, noting that the business had helped build parts of Trump’s border wall during his first term as president.

This is what we like to call a nice little quid pro quo. 

These companies gift six-figure campaign contributions to White Boots Ron. DeSantis lets them bypass the competitive process for Allegator Alcatraz and grants them the contract. The state of Florida pays for the first year and then is reimbursed for the entire $450 million by relief funds from FEMA's Shelter and Services Program, a holdover from the Biden Administration, whose original intent was to provide short-term temporary housing for immigrants awaiting their immigration court proceedings. ICE joins in on the action by shipping immigrants, regardless of where they are captured, to the facility where they receive $245 per bed per night with the hope of maxing out at 5,000 inmates. If they have a full house, then they will receive the full $450 million reimbursement from FEMA.

But here's where the grift kicks into gear. Doing simple math, we can note that with the facility costing $465 million per year and having 5,000 inmates, that's an average cost of $90,000 per inmate. Compare that to the notorious Leavenworth, which costs an average of $53,000 per inmate. What is it about Alligator Alcatraz that makes it nearly 60% more expensive than its Kansas counterpart? 

The answer is nothing. There are no upscale facilities or technological advances. Prisoners won't have access to anything resembling a luxurious lifestyle. That excess $185 million will go directly into the pockets of Ron DeSantis and his cronies. Knowing he is term-limited puts Ron in a bit of a bind these next 17 months. He needs to capitalize on what he can now before his likely 2028 presidential run. As someone whose net worth grew 18% in the past year, DeSantis knows how to profit from his brand. Suppose he can keep his major donors happy by giving them tens of millions of dollars in contracts through the operation of Alligator Alcatraz. In that case, he won't think twice about doing it while simultaneously asserting himself as being "tough on immigration", a key stance needed to be the next Republican presidential nominee.

The Republican Party is the greatest Ponzi Scheme in world history. Ron DeSantis isn't the first, and he certainly won't be the last, to profit off the construction of a modern concentration camp in his red state. Look for other opportunistic governors like Sarah Huckabee Sanders to follow. After all, with a $45 billion investment in ICE over the next 4 years, the current administration is more than happy to create detention centers in GOP-friendly states. With there being endless contractors and GOP mega-donors more than happy to hop on the gravy train, there will be no shortage of grifters willing to step in and line their pockets to create these new facilities. As we've seen with Geo Group and CivicGroup, there is money to be made in the immigrant detention business. The fact that Ron DeSantis has now joined the party shouldn't surprise anyone.

The only surprising thing is that it took him this long to do so.