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Is Ron DeSantis Slipping into the Swamp?
Debates will continue about whether Gov. Ron DeSantis should run for the Presidency in 2024 or whether people should support President Trump. I’ve seen insightful and intelligent arguments for both positions. But there’s one argument that I think is illegitimate and there are many reasons for pushing back on them: Ron DeSantis is not going to be swallowed by the swamp.
There are some key reasons for trusting that DeSantis is going to maintain his gritty, controversial and genuine Republican positions, and I’m going to explain those, and also the reasons that people are being coaxed into believing that he may not be so trustworthy.
The major reason for trusting DeSantis’ positions is that in spite of all the national criticism and abuse he’s been subjected to, he has remained steady in his decisions. Here are just a few examples when he’s angered others and it doesn’t stop his stating his positions. (I’ve italicized certain points for your review):
DeSantis’ latest move this week was signing legislation that would create a new security office to investigate allegations of voter fraud. The bill would also levy significant new penalties for violations of state election law, including fines of up to $50,000 for failing to submit voter registration forms within two weeks.
Never mind that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Florida, or that a judge recently struck down many of the provisions of DeSantis’ earlier ‘election fraud’ law. . .
DeSantis has pushed legislation that makes it more difficult — and increases the potential jail times — for state residents who peacefully protest and demonstrate, a right enshrined in the First Amendment. (A judge has blocked parts of the law; DeSantis has vowed to appeal) . . .
Last week he signed a bill limiting the tenure for professors at state universities, who his Republican political allies have are trying to ‘indoctrinate’ students with liberal beliefs.
The coup de grace, however, came when DeSantis signed legislation that stripped Disney of the special tax status it has enjoyed for decades around its Orlando-area theme park. While good government supporters might find a reason to support such a move, DeSantis’ motivation appears far more insidious.
DeSantis claims the change is to curtail an overly powerful corporation. But the legislative assault dovetails perfectly with company officials pushing back on DeSantis’ so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which aims to restrict teacher-led discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida public schools. Coincidence? Obviously not.
According to this writer for MSNBC, DeSantis’ motives are insidious and refers to him as “. . . quite possibly the most dangerous figure in American politics.” Efforts to damage DeSantis’ character and motives continue relentlessly, and will continue to keep him out of the swamp.
At this point, it seems reasonable to assume that DeSantis’ is consistent in pursuing Republican and Conservative principles and policies, and is fearless in fighting those who disagree with him. In fact, the mainstream media and Democrats are only able to fight back with lies and misinformation. Here is a sampling:
When DeSantis reopened the state and banned mask and vaccine mandates in schools, liberal media members blasted DeSantis as a ‘death cultist.’
‘The Right Wants to Freedom Us to Death,’ The New Republic editor Michael Tomasky complained in a headline.
‘Why not call it the DeSantis variant?’ CNN anchor Jim Acosta mused in August 2021.
And when DeSantis prioritized vaccine distribution for the state’s most vulnerable community, the elderly, he was accused of racism and favoritism toward whiter, Republican-leaning residents. Former Republican Governor-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist, who defeated Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, called for a federal investigation into alleged favoritism in the vaccine distribution plan.
In April 2021, CBS News’ ’60 Minutes’ delivered a heavily criticized report on DeSantis that implicitly accused the governor of giving Florida grocery store chain Publix lucrative rights to vaccine distribution in exchange for a $100,000 campaign donation. Several Florida Democrats named in the report, including Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner, blasted the report as false.
Most recently, a fake list of ‘banned books’ in Florida racked up thousands of retweets this week, duping prominent liberals like ‘Star Wars’ actor Mark Hamill and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ was on the fake list, as were other well-known titles including ‘A Wrinkle in Time,’ ‘The Giver,’ and ‘Of Mice and Men.’
The Palm Beach County School District temporarily removed ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ from classrooms to review it earlier this year, but has since returned it, according to the Florida Freedom to Read Project, which tracks book removals across Florida school districts.
So Democrats, in lockstep with the mainstream media and their supporters, not only misrepresent DeSantis’ policies and legislation, but they rely on false narratives and lies.
* * * *
DeSantis can be accused of already being tarnished and corrupted by the swamp due to his time serving in Congress, too, where he represented Florida’s 6th district in House from 2013 to 2018. During that time, however, he frequently criticized Robert Mueller’s investigation, and was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus. And I am going to assume that he saw the “lay of the land” in what would be expected of a legislator who waded into that swamp. And he’ll have already learned how to avoid wading into the gunk this time around.
Although nothing is certain, if you are considering Gov. DeSantis as a Presidential candidate (assuming he chooses to run), I think he will continue to fight the good fight.
Published in Politics
I like DeSantis along with Trump. They are the principal Republican candidates who have been there and accomplished objectives in an executive role. I trust them more than anyone else.
Not everyone condemns him– https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2022/09/06/florida-sheriffs-group-supports-desantis-in-ousted-tampa-prosecutors-lawsuit/
Another thing in DeSantis’ favor for me is his response to COVID. Although he originally closed down things, he studied up on the virus and public health and then reversed himself reopening the economy and having kids return to school just a couple of months later and easily withstood the false claims by Fauci, the Dems and the media that his policies would kill people readily explaining why they were wrong. I have absolutely no questions about his backbone, his work ethic or his intelligence.
Not only that, he openly said that his original decision was a mistake. How often do we get politicians admitting they made mistakes??
Immaturity warning:
It is sad, but the more the Never Trumpers push DeSantis, the less I like him. That has nothing whatsoever to do with DeSantis. But I would like the opportunity to vote for Trump just out of spite. :-) :-)
I’m sure this will pass. :-) But if I’m feeling this way, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that others are too.
You will have the opportunity to vote for Trump if he runs. But I give no credence to the Never Trumpers, Marci, because their motives are foolish. I don’t even know what they are saying about DeSantis (although I expect they mimic the author of the first article I quoted). I just want to be sure that ultimately when people vote, they are choosing based on the facts (or as close as we can get to them) and not lies.
If it comes down to a choice between Trump or DeSantis in 2024, either one is far superior to anyone the Ds will nominate. I’d call it a no-loose situation. But then the Republicans are not called the stupid party for nothing.
He dived head-first into the swamp: Yale, Harvard, SpecOps JAG and DoJ. (I don’t blame him: grab those opportunities with both hands!) If he can do all that and hew to an America First national agenda (where the issues are very different from those faced by a governor) that would be an impressive feat.
Good points! He had ample opportunity to be corrupted before he became governor, so we’ll see how things pan out.
The Never-Trumpers have joined the ranks of those who think humans have no soul. It saddens me to see Biden even use the word when he describes people since his actions show he has no concept of what he is saying.
“Writing in The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn mused on the corruption of one’s soul when befallen to totalitarianism:
This statement is as impactful on the psyche as it is eerily prescient for what we are all being subjected to at the time of writing this in the year 2022.
What does it mean to die spiritually?
Perhaps it means to betray one’s own values, principles, and morals within one’s own heart. Maybe it means for someone to be so beaten into submission, that their sense of right and wrong is superseded by fear, aggression and malice.
Fundamentally leading to an unwavering conformity to unjust suggestions, imperatives, and a disconnectedness to what it means to be a human being.”
That quote is from By Nicholas Creed Via The Daily Bell
Because it is so painful and difficult to self-reflect on one’s spiritual wellness, the Left prefers to blame their desolation on others–outside of themselves. As long as they hold that belief, they will continue to feel empty and rootless–and hold the rest of us accountable. Thanks, Bob.
And, Susan, it is clear that the WEF is in the same soulless place in the quest for one world government.
Indeed.
I’m comforted by the thought that The Swamp could have easily co-opted Trump, but didn’t. All they needed to do was to suck up to and compliment him, then make him think their ideas were his. However, they couldn’t overcome their elitist snobbery enough to do so. It was more important to them to signal their self-proclaimed virtue and superiority.
They seem to feel as superior toward DeSantis as to Trump. Certain personality types are easily swayed by sneering condescension so as to be accepted by the mob. DeSantis is not that type of personality. I’m not sure how they could best seduce DeSantis, if that’s even possible, but I feel sure that showering him with unearned contempt won’t work.
That’s the basis for evaluating someone based on what they have actually done, rather than chatter about doing something sometime. And, then seeing what the circumstances were for doing those things – how hard was it when someone took an action; how did they respond to surprises; how did they respond to mistakes or changes in circumstances. Maybe most importantly- if there are no “actually done” things on their CV, they aren’t a credible candidate for much of anything other than entry level somewhere else.
That might have worked at some earlier point but by 2015 I think Trump had seen enough to actually rouse his American patriotism to the task of revealing to the people what they had not been able to see.
I do think that DeSantis is a completely different personality than Trump but he is just as perceptive.
Conservative Treehouse has been slamming Desantis lately. Don’t understand the antipathy and haven’t been swayed by the assertions he’s made. The latest was regarding Desantis canceling a fundraiser for the Lee Zelden (GOP NY Gov. Candidate) after getting large donation from bundler that was also supporting Dem Gov. Hochal.
Desantis’s office stated it was to attend funeral of a law enforcement office (must be honest, it wasn’t a very convincing excuse).
Don’t know if it’s true or not. CTH really seems to be Trump or no one else and that seems to affect any perceptions regarding anyone else.
All these candidates will disappoint in some way. Desantis still seems the most solid and most consistent and effective GOP Executive right now.
I’ll support Trump if he’s the nominee but though he had some huge wins, he’s had some major fails that he hasn’t adequately explained or put to rest that they wouldn’t be repeated. I’m thinking getting railroaded into the Covid lockdowns (the “science!” was never there), Criminal Justice Reform (aka Prison Break), a lot of personnel issues and turnover (Amarosa? Cohen? Scarramicci?), Federal Spending.
Sometimes I’m reluctant to share my Governor with everyone else, but the country needs him.
I just want to be sure I understand. IS CTH saying that DeSantis decided not to go to Zelden’s fundraiser because Zelden received funds from a bundler that also supported Hochal? That’s weird. Bundlers service all kinds of people. Money is money. Am I missing something, WiCon?
Yeah, I get that. Me too.
I hope that everyone has viewed the video; it’s less than 1 minute, but it shows DeSantis’ willingness to push back. He’s clearly hostile, but he comes across differently than Trump.
My guess is that Never Trumpers aren’t going to like DeSantis either. DeSantis seems to be adopting the approach of Glen Youngkin, which is, don’t turn off Trump supporters by going after Trump, but at the same time show himself to be thoughtful and judicious, which appeals to independents. Never Trumpers might require a disavowal of Trump.
His recently released campaign video is very good.
I agree! I like how it shows ordinary working Americans being able to do their work because DeSantis stood up to the media, despite them calling him a mass murderer and worse (while they gushed over Andrew Cuomo, whose disastrous policy of putting Covid cases in nursing homes had disastrous and predictable consequences).
I think he could win back independents to the GOP. Trump has lost ground with that group.
What!? !
Not this NeverTrumper.
I do not require any Republican to renounce Trump to get my vote in 2022 or 2024. I appreciate that some in the pundit class want a renunciation, but that is not practical or pragmatic.
Georgia’s Brian Kemp and Arizona’s Doug Ducey have not attacked Trump, despite his many, many attacks on them. My bright line is if the Republican has been endorsed by Trump and is an active “election denier.” But while I disagree with “election skeptics” I am not willing to veto someone on that basis.
While I would prefer Youngkin, Ducey or Kemp over DeSantis, I am not willing to have the perfect be the enemy of the good. DeSantis is acceptable to me, and I have contributed to the “Ready for Ron” PAC.
It was superb. Here it is again:
Well, that’s encouraging. I hope there are more Never Trumpers like you. I had in mind people like Liz Cheney, who has criticized DeSantis.
Yep, that’s what he was implying. He hasn’t revisited the allegation in the 5 or 6 days since he first made it, which makes me think he found out he was wrong.