I don't see Desantis as authoritarian more than he is a reactionary response to liberal expansionism. Liberal expansionism demands that every limitation on human behavior be removed simply for the sake of government having a new class of citizens to protect and pit against traditionalism.
Discussion
This is similar, in practice and consequence to econ-obsessed conservatives and libertarians believing that human flourishing is best accomplished through market expansionism.
Both sides downplay the severe erosion of social cohesion their expansionism causes. Liberal expansionists downplay the cultural and political discord and the (real) authroitarian reactionism their policies cause, and market expansionists downplay employment upsets and wealth gaps.
Interestingly, both sides insist that the state's raison d'être is to expand "freedom".