Tag: Florida

DeSantis Losing Friends and Alienating People

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The Guardian: “By almost every measure, the rightwinger has had another lackluster week on the campaign trail, with ‘clumsy’ missteps in New Hampshire, Texas, California and New York. Now, barely one month after his glitch-ridden launch on Twitter, DeSantis finds himself sinking in the polls, closer to the large field of optimists below him than the twice-indicted, twice-impeached former president who retains a stranglehold over the Republican party.

“‘The more voters learn about him, the less they can stomach the idea of him running the country,’ the online magazine Jezebel concluded.”

Don’t Vote for the Job-Killing Moron

Trish

“Governor Ron DeSantis is a job killing moron who cares more about his own political ambitions and culture wars than Florida and our future. According to him, ‘woke makes you go broke’ but this is another example of how it’s actually the complete opposite. DeSantis is not who you want for President — ever.”

— Fla. Rep. Anna Eskamani (D – Dist. 42) reacting to the news that Disney will pull a $17 billion project out of her district. The decision was announced amid ongoing attacks from Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis after Disney objected to the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which punishes any acknowledgement of nonheterosexual orientation in public schools.

Steve Schmidt: Ron DeSantis’ Campaign Has Collapsed ‘under the Weight of His Disordered Personality’

Schmidt: 'It's Over'

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Excerpt from “The Warning” by Steve Schmidt Starts at 0:40:

Watching Ron DeSantis’ belly flop onto the empty concrete of the proverbially empty pool has been astonishing. It is very very rare to see a loss of 30 points. There hasn’t been a debate. The campaign hasn’t effectively started, and he’s collapsed under the weight of his disorder personality.

The newspapers are filled with stories. Ron DeSantis doesn’t like to talk to people. Ron DeSantis doesn’t like to make phone calls. Marco Rubio talked about the fact in the Wall Street Journal story that details the 30 point point collapse that he hasn’t talked to the governor of his state in months…

Not only does Trump have a score of congressional endorsements a few months later, while his behavior has become more outrageous, more dangerous and more unhnged. eight of those congressional endorsements are from the state of Florida.

Ron DeSantis just isn’t ready for prime time. He has no path to a comeback. He’s an extremely poor debater. It’s over.

Three Travel Advisories are in Effect for Florida Because of Its War on “Woke”

The Legislature Continues to Focus on Issues Gov. DeSantis Can Boast About on the Campaign Trail

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Equality Florida logoA third travel advisory has been issued for Florida. Equality Florida, the state’s largest organization devoted to fighting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender idenity, is warning not to visit or relocate to Florida. The group joins The Florida Immigrant Coalition and state chapters of the NAACP in the same message:

Don’t come to Florida

The move comes in response to…the passage of laws that are hostile to the LGBTQ community, restrict access to reproductive health care, repeal gun safety laws, foment racial prejudice, and attack public education by banning books and censoring curriculum.

Florida’s legislature continues to churn out culture war laws devised by Gov. Ron DeSantis. One source from within the body even told a Politico Florida reporter that the governor’s office must sign off on any changes to bills as they work through the legislature.

Florida’s elected Republicans find themselves ignoring serious problems like a crisis in homeowners insurance that is causing Florida residents to sell their homes. They have also produced no bills dealing with climate change even as the Fort Lauderdale airport had to be shut down from torrential rain and flooding. Instead, they focus on issues that Ron DeSantis wants to be able to boast about in his primary challenge to disgraced former Pres. Trump.

Newsom Hits GOP’s ‘Authoritarian Leaders’

interviewed in Alabama by MSNBC's Jen Psaki

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Politico.com: “[California Gov. Gavin] Newsom sat down with [MSNBC’s Jen] Psaki in Alabama, while on a tour of Republican-led states including Arkansas and Mississippi. Newsom recently announced the launch of a new political action committee called Campaign for Democracy, aimed at calling out red state policies and ‘authoritarian leaders.’

“With Psaki, he lit into DeSantis, a frequent target of his ire who is expected to announce a run for the Republican presidential nomination at the close of Florida’s legislative calendar.

“‘[He’s] scared to death, scared of the people, scared of the public,’ Newsom said. ‘I think the majority of NRA members probably oppose that position.’”

DeSantis PAC Spending Challenged by Florida Democratic Party

Says Governor Dines at Miami's "Dirty French Steakhouse" Where a Porterhouse is $255

Trish

Fried Tweet
“Dirty French Steakhouse?”
The new chair of the Florida Democratic Party is fearless. Nikki Fried was the only Dem in the cabinet of Ron DeSantis because Floridians elected her as our agriculture secretary and he couldn’t do anything about it. But she opted to run in the primary leading up to the 2022 gubernatorial election and lost because our team was so afraid of DeSantis winning a second term that they made the utterly wrong calculation that former governor, former Republican, former U.S. Representative Charlie Crist was the safer bet.

I knew Fried had what it would take to beat DeSantis. Unfortunately, you can’t go full nuclear on a fellow “Democrat” in a primary so Crist won on name recognition and voter laziness. DeSantis went on to take 59.4 percent of the vote, in an election with 53.6 percent turnout, or the votes of 4.6 million people in a state with 22.2 million people. But DeSantis touts his “landslide” victory and since it makes a better story, the press goes along with it and it becomes accepted fact.

But we still have Fried and she is not sleeping on retiring Ron DeSantis.

Disney vs. DeSantis: The Mouse Snaps Back, Will Host Gay Rights Summit in Florida

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Los Angeles Magazine: “Now, as tension remains high, Disney has put a major conference to promote LGBTQ+ rights in the workplace in Florida, to take place right in [Disneyworld], on the calendar for this September, as the Miami Herald reports. The event will host some of the most prominent names within the global business world; it’s also ultimately, a direct rebuttal to DeSantis’ crusade against diversity training.

“The summit — to be hosted in collaboration with longstanding sponsor Out & Equal — comes nearly a year after DeSantis sparked the feud when passing the state’s HB-1557, dubbed the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill. In its essence, the legislation bans any education regarding sexual orientation or gender identity in pre-4th-grade classrooms. And when Disney clapped back at this bill, which doesn’t require legislative approval, DeSantis upped the stakes for ‘the most magical place on Earth.’”

Frum: Is Ron DeSantis Flaming Out Already?

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From former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum at The Atlantic:

DeSantis will be a candidate of the Republican base, for the Republican base. Like Trump, he delights in displaying his lack of regard for everyone else. Trump, however, is driven by his psychopathologies and cannot emotionally cope with disagreement. DeSantis is a rational actor and is following what somebody has convinced him is a sound strategy. It looks like this:

1. Woo the Fox audience and win the Republican nomination.
2. ??
3. Become president.

Written out like that, you can see the missing piece. DeSantis is surely intelligent and disciplined enough to see it too. But the programming installed in him prevents him from acting on what he sees. His approach to winning the nomination will put the general election beyond his grasp. He must hope that some external catastrophe will defeat his Democratic opponent for him—a recession, maybe—because DeSantis is choosing a path that cannot get him to his goal.

Proposed Florida Law Would Penalize Writing about DeSantis and Other Government Officials

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Fla.com: “Florida Sen. Jason Brodeur (R-Lake Mary) wants bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, and other members of the Florida executive cabinet or legislature to register with the state or face fines.

“Brodeur’s proposal, Senate Bill 1316: Information Dissemination, would require any blogger writing about government officials to register with the Florida Office of Legislative Services or the Commission on Ethics.

“In the bill, Brodeur wrote that those who write ‘an article, a story, or a series of stories,’ about ‘the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature,’ and receives or will receive payment for doing so, must register with state offices within five days after the publication of an article that mentions an elected state official.

“If another blog post is added to a blog, the blogger would then be required to submit monthly reports on the 10th of each month with the appropriate state office. They would not have to submit a report on months when no content is published…

“Failure to file these disclosures or register with state officials, if the bill passes, would lead to daily fines for the bloggers, with a maximum amount per report, not per writer, of $2,500. The per-day fine is $25 per report for each day it’s late.”