Ron DeSantis is learning that not every state wants to be Florida

[Caliman73]

12. Competitive in how reactionary and regressive they can be...of course.

Conservatism is a reactionary ideology by nature. They have a worldview that is informed by history and tradition. Specifically the history and traditions of monarchy and aristocracy. Because the United States was formed and grew up in an era where Monarchy, specifically was being challenged, Conservatives in the US are not keen on hereditary nobility, however they still hold all of the same ideas that Edmund Burke, Thomas Hobbes, Joseph DeMaistre, and other fathers of Conservatism hold, that the natural state of Man is sinful and savage, that God naturally blessed a certain type of person (Wealthy, White, Protestant Men) with the ability to lead, and that society functions best with a rigid hierarchy where the "blessed" have an ordained right to be in charge and make all the rules.

Whereas liberals and people futher to the left, are more egalitarian and are typically driven by information supported by evidence, Conservatives are whetted to their ideology regardless of any evidence to the contrary. They see any challenge to their worldview as a fundamental conflict between "good and evil".

So, while DeSantis and the Red governors share a core of beliefs, they are more likely to compete about who is being more faithful to the Conservative ideology of protecting the power structure from liberalism.