Now that former president Donald Trump is a convicted felon, what happens next? Monday Trump, like every other newly convicted felon, met with a court-appointed probation officer in the state of New York, to be interviewed for sentencing recommendations.

One of the interview questions that Trump was possibly posed is the matter of culpability. Does the former president regret putting in motion the series of events that led to a jury of his peers convicting him on all 34 counts in his ‘hush money case’? If we know the former president and businessman like we think we do based on his very public ego and bravado these last ten years, then it is all together likely that the newly minted convicted felon regrets nothing and is not ashamed to admit it. He doesn’t regret publicly humiliating his wife, Melania Trump, through his infidelities. He doesn’t regret entering a “catch and kill” agreement with former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker during his 2016 presidential campaign that would bury any less than stellar stories about himself and promote negative, and occasionally false inaccurate stories about his political rivals in the magazine.

According to Trump doctrine, it didn’t happen, and if it is proven beyond reasonable doubt that his fingers were all in the pudding, well, someone snitched, flipped, or set him up. So, we can be absolutely assured that when 45 went into that interview with a New York state appointed probation officer, he went in wearing a defiant attitude and a narcissistic sneer, vowing to take his revenge on the “radical Left” that had the audacity to prosecute him for his crimes.

As we reach the six month point in this contentious 2024 political campaign season, it is evident that there are several hot topics that will be on the ballot for America’s voters to dissect. Reproductive health access and the legalization of recreational marijuana will be front and center on the ballot here in Florida. Recent polling has shown that an overwhelming majority of Floridians feel that women should have the right to decide when motherhood is accessible in their lives without the hand of Gov. Ron DeSantis and the super majority Republican House in Tallahassee snatching that choice from them. For Florida’s female population, this subject making its entry on the November ballot will have far reaching ramifications.

If Floridians vote to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in November, Florida will become the 25th state to do so and if polling is the measuring stick that predicts the temperature of the culture and attitudes of Floridians, this too will indeed pass. That is why DeSantis is beginning to ramp up his efforts to counter the campaign to legalize marijuana. Sources close to the governor’s office have reported that the Florida Freedom Fund, a committee created by James Uthmeier, DeSantis’ chief of staff, will be used to “target the two amendments” of abortion access enshrined in Florida’s Constitution and the legalization of recreational marijuana. Taryn Fenske, DeSantis’ spokesperson told reporters last week that the Florida Freedom Fund “will be championing issues and candidates committed to preserving Floridians freedom…from up and down the ballot races to critical amendments, we’re steadfast in our mission to keep Florida free.”

What does the word free mean to Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans? How is it possible to “keep Florida free” when one political entity restricts the freedoms of another? That significantly flawed logic only magnifies and mirrors the overall arc of the MAGA Republican party, one that DeSantis supports.

Days following Trump’s conviction, the governor opined that the former president, now convicted felon, would indeed be able to vote in the upcoming election. When Floridians voted in November 2018, “nearly 65% of Florida voters approved Amendment 4, a constitutional amendment that automatically restored voting rights to most Floridians with past convictions who had completed the terms of their sentence” states the Brennan Center For Justice. Six months later DeSantis signed Senate Bill 7066 that prohibits convicted felons from having their voting rights restored if they have not fulfilled their “legal financial obligations.”

What Floridian felons are discovering is that these so-called “legal financial obligations” can range in the tens of thousands dollars of debts owed to the state for incarceration and court fees. The only notification of this so-called debt is upon registering to vote. That is the kind of ‘freedom’ that DeSantis and the MAGA Republicans in Tallahassee support in Florida. A ‘freedom’ that applies to some, but not all Floridians.

And on the subject of “freedom’’and the now convicted felon, our 45th President Donald Trump is publicly stating without hesitation that his intention as the 47th POTUS is to take revenge on Democrats and everyone that had the audacity to hold him accountable for his role in the activities surrounding Jan. 6, 2021, and his election interference. “I have every right to go after them,” Trump told his FOX News pal Sean Hannity after his conviction. In a very puzzling Dr. Phil interview Trump admitted that “sometimes revenge can be justified.” In other words, Trump wants everyone associated with the 91 counts of various criminal shenanigans levied against him to be prosecuted and imprisoned. Sounds a lot like the formation of authoritarianism and the dictator-like behavior and assumption of power that Trump loves.

While in the past he has hurled all kinds of nasty remarks against DeSantis, Trump envies DeSantis and that it is his determination to mirror the entire country after the reflection of Florida. If he succeeds and wins the White House in November, the era of revenge and “freedom’’ will take the place of democracy and the Constitution as we know it today.