Tag: Ron Desantis
Newsom Hits GOP’s ‘Authoritarian Leaders’ interviewed in Alabama by MSNBC's Jen Psaki
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.’”
Florida Democrats Are Using DeSantis’ Book-Banning Law to Ban His Book
If America doesn’t want Florida’s present reality to become America’s future reality, people need to know what it’s like here. … This is our way of fighting back, but also highlighting how ridiculous some of this becomes, right?
— Fentrice Driskell, the minority leader in the Florida House, who is leading an effort across 50 Florida counties to see if any of them might review or ban Gov. Ron DeSantis’ book based on his law’s vague and unwieldy criteria, reports The Daily Beast.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Ain’t Done Much for Floridians
TIME magazine has an insightful piece on how Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ focus on culture wars has obscured his terrible record on accomplishing much of anything positive for the residents of his state. The essay is written by William Kleinknecht, a political journalist and author of “States of Neglect: How Red-State Leaders Have Failed Their Citizens and Undermined America.”
Here’s an excerpt from “No One Is Talking About What Ron DeSantis Has Actually Done to Florida”:
Even a cursory dip into the statistics of social and economic well-being reveals that Florida falls short in almost any measure that matters to the lives of its citizens. More than four years into the DeSantis governorship, Florida continues to languish toward the bottom of state rankings assessing the quality of health care, school funding, long-term elder care, and other areas key to a successful society.
Florida may be the place where “woke goes to die”—as DeSantis is fond of saying—but it is also where teachers’ salaries are among the lowest in the nation, unemployment benefits are stingier than in any other state, and wage theft flourishes with little interference from the DeSantis administration. In 2021, DeSantis campaigned against a successful ballot initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage, which had been stuck at $8.65 an hour. Under DeSantis’s watch, the Sunshine State has not exactly been a workers’ paradise.
Gov. ‘Puddin” Denies It
“I don’t remember ever doing that, I’m telling you. Maybe when I was a kid. It’s interesting, there’s a lot of people, when they go at you, sometimes they have really good ammunition, like you’re a crook, you did this, you did that. For me, they’re talking about pudding. Really? Is that the best you got? Bring it on!”
– MAGA Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis denying reports that he eats pudding with three fingers.
DeSantis PAC Spending Challenged by Florida Democratic Party Says Governor Dines at Miami's "Dirty French Steakhouse" Where a Porterhouse is $255
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
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?
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.
Rubio Distances Himself from DeSantis’ Ukraine Remarks
“I don’t know what he’s trying to do or what the goal is. Obviously, he doesn’t deal with foreign policy every day as Governor. So I’m not sure. I can’t speak to that. I can’t compare that to something else he did or said over the last few years because he doesn’t deal with it every day.”
— Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, distancing himself from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ apparent flip-flop on the war in Ukraine, on the Hugh Hewitt radio show.
DeSantis Greeted by ‘Ron DeFascist’ Graffito at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley
Ventura Star: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke to hundreds of supporters at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Simi Valley on Sunday, potentially marking Ventura County’s first event of the 2024 presidential primary.
“DeSantis appeared to promote his new book, “The Courage to Be Free,” which was published last week. During his speech, however, DeSantis sounded more like he was on the campaign trail than a book tour….
“Not everyone at the Reagan library on Sunday was thrilled DeSantis paid a visit. Roughly 100 protesters from Ventura and Los Angeles counties lined the entrance to the campus, many carrying protest signs or LGBTQ pride flags…
