Tag: Florida

While he may well be the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is not exactly well-liked by those in the Sunshine State who see the mess he’s made since he took office.

According to an op-ed from the Editorial Board of the Miami Herald, DeSantis is trying to make headlines as a way of distracting from his record as governor, which features numerous failures.

Citing the “Don’t Say Gay” law DeSantis had the Florida legislature pass, his banning of Advanced Placement courses in African-American history, and his attack on Disney, the editors note:

DeSantis, like Donald Trump before him, is practicing the dark art of manipulating our attention, throwing bombs to keep us riveted, even as other, far less sexy state problems remain unfixed, like property insurance.

In other words, DeSantis is all style and no substance, a man who delights in “spin.”

One minute he’s making it seem as though there’s a serious problem of children regularly attending drag shows (there isn’t) and the next he’s using our money to jet migrants from states (not his) to other states (again, not his) in a ridiculous overreach that generated a new round of headlines. It’s a wonder he doesn’t have motion sickness, he’s spinning so fast.

DeSantis is a clown who just so happens to have a law degree from Harvard, and he knows that his bullshit pronouncements and attacks on the most vulnerable will likely never be upheld in court. But that doesn’t matter to the governor, because it allows him to get on his soapbox and distract from the disaster his administration has been.

 “By giving so much light and air to DeSantis’ political gyrations, we let him draw attention from the many things he’s not doing. We let him control the narrative, making it one of fear and anger rather than actual policy discussions. There are real, festering problems in Florida that could benefit from the attention of our leaders, including him. “

If you thought the Trump administration was a disaster, consider that DeSantis would be Donald on steroids, a man dedicated to his own self-aggrandizement, willing to burn the country down to serve his own selfish purposes and, unlike Trump, knowing exactly how to do so.

Many political insiders consider Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and considering that he coasted to reelection last November in the Sunshine State, it’s safe to say the he does indeed appear to be the front-runner, if only because Trump Fatigue Syndrome has fully overtaken most of the country and polls repeatedly show voters want anyone but Donald to run.

But there are plenty of Floridians who want the nation to know that DeSantis is just a younger, less abrasive version of Trump, perhaps even more extreme than anyone else currently on the GOP political scene.

One of those Florida residents is Don Falls. He’s a high school social studies teacher in Manatee County who is suing DeSantis over the Stop WOKE Act, which was passed in 2022 in order to “fight back against woke indoctrination.” Falls believes the law directly violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Falls sat down with Yelena Dzhanova of Business Insider and spelled out exactly what a Ron DeSantis presidency would mean for the country. It’s not a pretty picture.

“This year I’m teaching government and economics. I’ve taught just about every subject in social studies over the course of my 38-year career. I love teaching. And I love it every day. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis openly said in his swearing-in inauguration that this is the state where woke goes to die. And so he has made it his goal to do everything he can to stop what he perceives as a woke ideology that’s prevalent, particularly in schools. It’s all fabricated. If you know anything about education, you know that that doesn’t really exist on any scale and in schools, especially in Florida. But that’s what he campaigned on. That’s his base, and so he has continued to push those things.”

For example, Falls notes that all books have to be approved before they’re allowed into a school or curriculum, no matter what a teacher may want his or her students to read.

“The latest change is a sweeping act of legislation that requires all public schools to go through a vetting process for their books. The books have to be reviewed by a trained media specialist or librarian to make sure they’re appropriate for children. So, last week, I, an educator of Manatee High School in Bradenton, Florida, got a memo that gave me three choices: I could pack up all the books from my classroom, cover them up, or run them through their vetting process. If I chose to go through with the last option, I’d have to get approval for them to remain on my classroom shelves.”

What would that mean? More work for Falls, who is already hard-pressed for time.

“The point is that it would take me weeks, probably, to have to go through the process of trying to vet all of these books and get them in the system. So to me, this is just Big Brother looking over our shoulders, and fundamentally a violation of our first amendment right, right to free speech, and students’ first amendment rights of free speech.”

Right-wingers like Ron DeSantis aren’t fond of free speech they don’t agree with. If it was up to them, the only thing allowed on school bookshelves would be The Bible. And maybe a few copies of Mein Kampf.

About the only Republican who had a good midterm election was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who won reelection with nearly 60% of the votes cast, easily beating his Democratic challenger, former governor Charlie Crist.

Within hours of the final results from the Sunshine State, DeSantis was being hailed at the 2024 Republican nominee, even if failed, one-term former president Donald Trump decided to run, which he did a few weeks later.

But is DeSantis a safe bet? According to those who know him, the Florida governor has some major drawbacks that could sink his 2024 plans long before the next election arrives.

Mark Leibovich of The Atlantic has taken a deep dive into DeSantis, and what he found should serve as a warning to anyone who thinks the governor is a sure thing. For example:

“He was standoffish in general,” the Virginia Republican Barbara Comstock, a former House colleague of DeSantis’s, told me.

“A strange no-eye-contact oddball,” Rick Wilson, a Republican media consultant, wrote on Resolute Square.

“I’d rather have teeth pulled without anesthetic than be on a boat with Ron DeSantis,” says Mac Stipanovich, a Tallahassee lobbyist who set sail from the GOP over his revulsion for Trump and his knockoffs. To sum up: DeSantis is not a fun and convivial dude. He prefers to keep his earbuds in. His “Step away from the vehicle” vibes are strong.

In other words, DeSantis isn’t the least bit “smooth.” And while some might say that’s a good thing, keep in mind the the best pure politician of the past three decades was Bill Clinton, who was so smooth that some dubbed him “Slick Willie.” But despite being called “slick,” Clinton connected with people, understood how to talk to voters, and always listened to what they were saying to him. And he won the presidency by overwhelming margins in 1992 and 1996.

DeSantis is far from “smooth.” Matter of fact, he’s quite off-putting, and voters don’t tend to cast ballots for candidates they don’t like.

“I think he is going to run into some challenges,” Carlos Curbelo, a former Republican congressman from Florida who served with DeSantis in the House, told me. “It’s that question that often comes up in politics—the question of ‘Would you want to have a beer with him?’’’ This is a big-time cliché, of course, but it does feel pertinent. Will he grow on voters like a catchy song, or like mold? DeSantis “has this robotic quality that he has to shed,” Curbelo said. “Everything else checks the box. He is smart and competent and committed to his ideology. He just has to humanize himself.”

But perhaps the line that best describes DeSantis is this one, shared by a Republican consultant:

“Ron’s strength as a politician is that he doesn’t give a fuck. Ron’s weakness as a politician is that he doesn’t give a fuck.”

But if he truly doesn’t give a fuck, then why would anyone want to vote for him?