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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
Let me double down on Gary’s take. I’ve been following articles and podcasts of prominent Never Trumpers and almost to a person they are warm to enthusiastic over the possibility of Ron DeSantis being the Republican nominee for President in 2024.
Except for Liz Cheney, then…she has gone off the deep end, another victim of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Support for or actions that result in the election of Democrats or Uniparty Republicans lend support to the Davos crowd. They have technocrats going around spouting that we don’t need so many people on earth as we have now. I think I see indicators among the world’s oligarchs’ actions suggesting they have some ideas about how to reduce those numbers using various forcible means as opposed to efforts to raise living standards for all humanity. This is a godless approach favored by today’s Leftists. Hence, soulless.
That’s a different ad than the one I’ve seen with ordinary working Floridians praising DeSantis for standing against the conventional COVID wisdom, which proved to be so wrong. This is a great ad, too.
Yes, that’s the one I was referring to in my earlier comment. I didn’t notice this was a different one – it is a great ad!
I don’t recall him explicitly saying “because” but just pointing it the coincidence,
And this is the sign that they believe that DeSantis won’t act like Trump. What were Trump’s policies again?
Wait! It appears to me that you give too much credit in that statement. They have never said Trump had policies they don’t like. They just don’t like him. DeSantis is a different person with similar policies as Trump but he is not Trump.
I would agree with that. It’s not Trump’s policies that Never Trumpers hate, it’s Trump himself. Even Liz Cheney voted with Trump the vast majority of the time, so clearly even she supported his policies. It’s Trump himself that they despise.
Look! The Ronald is The Donald’s illegitimate son. Does a good orange fall from a bad tree?
Deal with it Nevers!
PS: I don’t mean this to be provocative, but just a statement of incontestable fact.
I watched DeSantis in the early stages of President Trump’s term. He seemed very supportive, even inspired by President Trump, and he has gone forth to prove himself as Governor of Florida. I might compare that DeSantis in 2017-18 with what a young Thomas Jefferson (my first cousin eight times removed, btw) saw in Patrick Henry when he spoke against the Stamp Act in the House of Burgesses in 1765. Henry said, “If this be treason, make the most of it!”
Jefferson attended that debate standing at the door. He called Mr. Henry’s talents as a popular orator great indeed, such as I have never heard from any other man. Jefferson later referred to this as the most important day of his life.
I know that later Jefferson also wrote some very significant words to describe the people as an electorate and how important their knowledge and active participation in the affairs of governing would be. I hope we are up to the task.
Well, this is a happy-feet moment of the month. Thanks for the good perspective.
I read a number of Never Trumpers (such as David French) who are strongly criticizing DeSantis. So the governor has that going for him.
Who are the nevertrumpers who like DeSantis? Honest question. It seems like the most prominent ones I can think of are critical of him as well.
God forbid we select someone thoughtful and judicious.
Actually, I’ve had the same impression as well with a couple of friends who are avid Never Trumpers. They did not like the way DeSantis or Trump handled the pandemic. Even though these friends are often Republican voters, they respected the efforts made by the CDC and Dr. Fauci. They did not approve of DeSantis’s approach to the pandemic.
It’s a very mixed bag out there politically, I think, right now. It’s tough to call.
I’m just going by some of the columnists I read occasionally and some of the lukewarm Trump supporters and Never Trumpers here and elsewhere who have been against Trump and now strongly support DeSantis.
@marcin I think what we are seeing in Never Trumpers is essentially those who do not believe in government of, for, and by the people. This may be why whatever election cheating takes place is not thought to be a big deal. And ‘rule of law’ is foundering. At the founding, Thomas Jefferson, not considered particular religious, studied carefully the ancient governing principles ultimately adopted by Moses, after his early failures, governing the Israelites, and similar ancient governing principles employed by the early precursors of those we now call Anglo-Saxons. These principles were all part of the founding principles of the very first government by the people or their elected representatives in the modern world, perhaps why we often refer to our government as having a Judeo- Christian foundation.
I don’t think we are in a good place right now.
I don’t think our focus should be on engaging the NeverTrumpers; as you and Marci have said, they are a mixed bag and also can’t be counted on. We need to keep Republicans and Independents engaged and hopefully their involvement will see us through the potential fraudulent behavior of the Left.
I agree. Though, maybe encouraging them not to vote may appeal to their contrariness, which is emotional. But are there any Nevers who actually take a rational position? All I can see from them are irrational emotional positions: “But I don’t like him!“
The Bulwark hates him. They also hated Glenn Youngkin.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=the+bulwark+desantis&ia=web
Good article. I think Trump could win an honest election but not what we’re going to have. DeSantis will pick up some anti Trump Republicans and maybe even a few Democrats, but Trump has to support him with enthusiasm or we can’t win. We have many Republicans, even smart well informed ones who think the last election was not stolen. It was stolen and the next ones will be worse so we have to have the right candidates and for the presidential election Trump’s enthusiastic support. I don’t think folks understand our future should we not be able to take at least the house from the Republicans and keep the Senate too tight to expand the Supreme Court and then win the Presidency.
The Democrats control the media, the deep state, and the election process in every blue state. Republicans have no plan for countering any of this.
Every national election going forward will be decided by bags of ballots dumped in Detroit, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Phoenix in the middle of the night.
The election corruption is definitely centered in those cities in those swing states. The Republicans in those states should make an effort to pull the selection of presidential electors back to the state legislature as provided in the US Constitution. This should cause a conflict between the political parties within those states that will give greater exposure to the corruption problem even if the effort fails.
Conservatives, Republicans, RINOs, etc. If you are freedom-loving and desire to maintain this awesome Republic that was given to us by visionary founders, you must accept that the democrat media industrial complex will brand any nominee of your party, no matter who that is, as Jenjis (sic) Khan, a murderer, racist ……..
Whether that nominee be [shudder] President Donald J. Trump, Ron DeSantis or even lowly pacifist Mitt Romney.
This democrat media industrial complex only wants power and control over you and your livelihood and they will destroy anyone who is in their way. We need to give up any sense of a ‘perfect’ candidate or the image of such a ‘saintly’ person. This is a war and you need to go to war with a fighter who will bring the fight to the enemy of the Constitution and freedom itself. Both Ron DeSantis and President Trump fit that profile and they have proven themselves capable in this very necessary fight for the sake of the Republic.
Imagine, would you ever see Jeb! or Mitt Romney put together a campaign video such as Ron DeSantis just did? No. First, they would never dream of being so pugnacious and two, they would have no real video clips of them boldly and unashamedly standing up for America and freedom and opposed to the pushed media narrative of the day.
Vote for the fighter, and get behind one. Don’t start by dividing ourselves before we take on the enemies of the Republic. And, they are our enemies. Don’t ever forget that. They are Godless. And thus evil.
Wow, I didn’t know they hated Glen Youngkin! They truly have gone over to the dark side. I think Youngkin’s strategy – not alienating Trump supporters but expanding his voter base by appealing to independents – was a good model for Republicans to follow.
Let me put it this way. After Obama beat Romney in 2012, DeSantis is not claim that Obama stole the election, that we needed a revolution, or that Americans needed to march on Washington. Trump did.
Trump is a sui generis evil who must be stopped at all costs.
If you believe in the United States of 1776 and 1789, this is a hill to die on.
Heck yes, I would vote for DeSantis. ABT! (Anybody but Trump!)