POLITICUSUSA
Ron DeSantis, more than any other governor in the country, has politicized mask wearing. He has regularly pointed to his state as a model for how COVID-19 should be handled.
At the same time, Florida is in the top 5 states for both total COVID deaths and cases. And right now, the virus is surging in Florida with 20% of new cases originating there.
Florida has kind of become the epicenter of the MAGA movement. Donald Trump, or course, decided to make it his permanent residence following his presidency. And while it was one time the nation’s biggest swing state, it has become much redder over the last 10 years.
As of right now, the GOP is acting as if Donald Trump is the clear 2024 presidential candidate for the party. Things, however, may not be anything near that simple.
Trump is not only and older man with potential health difficulties, there are also plenty of legal challenges for him ahead. And while he is desperate to stay at the head of the party, other prominent Republicans are smelling blood in the water.
Republicans promote an ignorance that delights in repeating history, even it results in deadly massacres.
Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump are often key allies within the GOP. But right now, the Florida governor has his hands full dealing with the recent building collapse in Miami.
And DeSantis feels that it would be best for all of his energy to by focused on handling the tragedy. With that in mind, the governor reportedly asked Trump to postpone his rally in Sarasota this weekend. And the former president is refusing to do so.
A Florida Republican told the Washington Examiner that the former president needs to, “read the room.” They continued, “
The governor is getting tested here as to how far he’s going to be pushed before he breaks ranks with President Trump. And he has to be very careful because this is Trump country. The base loves the president. But they equally love Ron. It’s a showdown going on right now.”
Last week, a Miami, Florida building collapsed likely killing dozens of residents. The tragedy has created an all hands on deck response. Joe Biden recently offered the state whatever help it needs on a federal level.
Fox News has taken advantage of the tragedy to laud the state’s Governor Ron DeSantis. During a Monday broadcast, Tomi Lahren went as far as calling the matter a “shining moment” for the Republican.
The commentator gushed:
“Just watching this press conference as long as we did, a couple of things I took away from it. It is really unfortunate that tragedy brings people together. But watching Debbie Wasserman Schultz standing next to Ron DeSantis, watching all these city officials standing next to each other, some Republicans, some Democrats — it’s just a reminder that when something like this happens, it really doesn’t matter who you voted for, it doesn’t matter what letter is behind your name, people come together.”
Donald Trump‘s mark on the Republican party is now quite clear. In order to win big among Conservatives, lawmakers feel that they have to replicate Trump’s behavior.
Ron DeSantis has a bit more a pedigree than Trump. The Navy veteran did his undergrad at Yale and has a law degree from Harvard. The Florida governor, though, is more than happy to dumb his rhetoric down.
A recent poll of Republican voters showed that DeSantis’ strategy is working. Colorado Republicans said they preferred the Florida governor to Trump as the 2024 GOP nominee. Samantha Bee recently explained why that is so scary.
“Folks, after five years of the living hell that was the 2020 election, the 2024 presidential election is finally getting into gear,” the comedian said. “And sweet American Jesus, we may already have a frontrunner for the Republican nomination!”
Bee continued, “
Governor Ron DeSantis, please look into my eyes and eat sh*t. You’re one of the worst governors in Florida history and they had Jeb Bush and Nosferatu.”
During his time in the White House, Donald Trump enjoyed huge popularity among Republicans. Sure, it was never the 95 or 96% he claimed, but the former president was able to amass over 74 million votes in 2020.
But since he’s been out of the White House, Trump has been unable to stay in front of Republican voters. Not only is he not in the news on a daily basis, he also lost his Twitter account that allowed him to blast out grievances to millions of followers.
And with Trump’s popularity dwindling, other Republican lawmakers have stepped in to fill the gap. Ron DeSantis, in particular, now seems like someone who could challenge the 45th president for leadership of the party. With that being the case, Philip Bump says, Trump will have no choice but to turn on the Florida governor.
The Washington Post scribe begins, “
The point, though, is simple: Nothing frustrates Trump more obviously and viscerally than coming in second. Which is not great news for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.”
Donald Trump would very much like to run for president again in 2024. He has a number of hurdles to overcome to get there. He has serious legal issues in both New York and Georgia. He is also a 75 year-old man who isn’t in the greatest physical condition. But if he’s able to clear those hurdles, Trump would be favored to be the 2024 GOP nominee.
There are other popular Republicans though. During a conference in Colorado this weekend, attendees said they’d rather see Ron DeSantis be the 2024 nominee than Trump. According to Mark Meadows, though, the former president doesn’t need to worry because the Florida governor won’t be challenging him.
The former Trump chief of staff told the Washington Examiner, “
I think Ron DeSantis is identified across the country now for the courage that he shows for conservative solutions, and he would be the first to say that if President Trump gets in, that he would win the nomination and would clear the field, and so I don’t ever see it being a 2016 primary scenario.”
Back in September, two months before losing the election to Joe Biden, when Donald Trump was repeating the fallacy either he win the election or it’s “rigged,” Trump announced the formation of the “1776 Commission,” a retaliation against The New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning “1619 Project,” dedicated to chronicling the country’s history beginning the year Europeans shipped the first enslaved Africans to American shores.
In April, Senate Minority Leader Mitch “The Grim Reaper” McConnell led 39 Senate republicans in demanding Education Secretary Miguel Cardona retract a “divisive” education proposal to emphasize history and civics lessons about slavery and Black Americans’ contributions to the country as well as remove the 1619 Project from federal grant programs.
Ron DeSantis has spent much of the last year bragging about how the state of Florida has combated the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the fact that the state is in the top 5 in the nation in cases and deaths, the Governor has regularly touted his leadership.
Rebekah Jones is a scientist who formerly worked for the Florida Department of Health. She claims that she was fired for her claims that DeSantis had been hiding the state’s real COVID data. And after the governor recently celebrated her temporary suspension from Twitter, Jones announced that she would be challenging Matt Gaetz for his congressional seat.
A spokesperson for the governor released a statement yesterday that read in part, “The decision (to suspend Jones) was long overdue. Rebekah Jones is the Typhoid Mary of COVID-19 disinformation and has harmed many hardworking DOH employees with her defamatory conspiracy.
.@GovRonDeSantis’ office on Rebekah Jones Twitter suspension pic.twitter.com/a5jR0YTRtb
— Matt Dixon (@Mdixon55) June 7, 2021
Jones responded to the message via her Instagram account. She wrote, “Didn’t want to announce it this way, but since DeSantis is now taking credit for getting me suspended for sharing an article that proves he’s a sociopathic liar, it looks like I have to say it this way. I’m running for Matt Gaetz’ seat next year. No more sex traffickers in congress!”
Two weeks ago, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed his pet bill against Big Tech censorship.
Yesterday, he celebrated when whistleblower Rebekah Jones got banned from Twitter.
Now, she's coming for @mattgaetz's seat in Congress to force DeSantis to defend her account.
IRONIC. pic.twitter.com/8CFyg7CVVz
Donald Trump has given every indication that he plans on running for president again in 2024. And most Republicans have been quick to fall in line behind him.
But behind closed doors, there have to be some ambitious young Republicans who want to run for president in 2024. And according to David Jolly, the decline shown by Trump during last night’s North Carolina speech opens the door for people like Ron DeSantis and Kristi Noem.
The former Florida congressman made the comments while speaking to Alex Witt. He told the MSNBC host:
“I think unfortunately Donald Trump is still relevant for a couple of very important reasons. First, he is still the leader of the party until somebody replaces him, right? He has not receded into the shadows. Secondly, he’s very relevant because as leader of the party he continues to stoke the big lie, he continues to stoke this anti-democratic, illiberal attack on our democracy, if you will. that’s a very dangerous moment we’re living in.”
https://twitter.com/politicususa/status/1401682281660661763
For a number of years, Conservatives have accused major tech companies of discrimination. Republican lawmakers frequently called the heads of major tech companies to testify in front of committees.
The last straw for the GOP seemed to be when Donald Trump was batted from all of the most prominent social media sites. Florida’s Ron DeSantis, a major Trump fan, recently introduced legislation to punish tech companies that “discriminate” against Conservatives.
DeSantis told reporters, “
Many in our state have experienced censorship and other tyrannical behavior firsthand in Cuba and Venezuela. If Big Tech censors enforce rules inconsistently, to discriminate in favor of the dominant Silicon Valley ideology, they will now be held accountable.”
Donald Trump has lived in New York City for basically his entire life. But near the end of his presidency, he announced that he would be moving to Florida. And he didn’t just make the move for the weather.
Trump has powerful friends in the state of Florida, including governor Ron DeSantis. It was even rumored this week that DeSantis might be able to protect the former president from being extradited to New York in the case of a criminal charge.
But Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg says that the governor doesn’t have the power to protect Trump. He gave the explanation during a Sunday interview on CNN.
Host Jim Acosta asked, “Prosecutors in Florida are beginning to have conversations with prosecutors in New York about the possibility of extraditing Trump to New York if some kind of an indictment comes down. Are you aware of these talks. What can you tell us about that?’
Aronberg responded:
“I can clear that up. We have not had conversations with prosecutors in New York about this. The story you saw was with the clerk of court and other officials in case an indictment happens. There was a story in the New Yorker some time ago that said there are rumors that the governor of Florida would try to stand in the way of an extradition to New York. What is the governor’s power? It’s really nonexistent. He can try to delay it but his role is ministerial. The state of New York can go to court and get an order to extradite the former president but DeSantis can delay matters.”
https://twitter.com/politicususa/status/1394080962825359367
When Donald Trump left the White House, he went right down to Florida and hasn’t really left Mar-a-Lago. Luckily for Trump the state is run by Ron DeSantis, a big booster of the former president.
And having DeSantis in charge could be beneficial to Trump in the coming months. The New York District Attorney’s office is seemingly getting closer to charging the former president with a crime.
During Thursday’s episode of Deadline White House, Nicolle Wallace and her panel broke down what would happen if DeSantis refused to extradite
Trump to New York.
Wallace asked Andrew Weissmann, a former prosecutor on Robert Mueller‘s team what would happen if this was the case.
“So, this happens all the time in foreign countries where essentially you have people who are sort of imprisoned in a country,” Weissman explained. “Here, Donald Trump would be imprisoned in Florida. If he went overseas, if he went to any other state, he would be subject to those laws, and so he would really have to stay in Florida. It certainly would be quite an interesting issue if he were to, for instance — this is way down the road — but if he tried to run again, he would not be inhabiting the White House in that situation because there would be papers seeking his extradition to New York.”
https://twitter.com/politicususa/status/1392999390189654021
After Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney in 2012, Democrats began to plan for the next election in 2016. They could have not imagined, at that point, that they would be running against a failed businessman and reality TV star.
So the party is pulling out all the stops for their 2024 opposition research. Of course, Trump could again be the candidate. In order to do so, though, he would have to clear a number of different hurdles.
So the DNC is looking at around 20 candidates. There are favorites in the group like Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley. But in leaving no stone unturned, Democrats are even looking at wildcard candidates like My Pillow Guy, Mike Lindell.
The Hill reports, “T
he DNC also has a team in place to beef up its fundraising and organizing operations for both the 2022 midterms and the 2024 cycle.” Running the operation is Jen O’Malley Dillon who successfully ran Biden
In an interview with Fox Business, former President Donald Trump said he’d consider running in 2024 with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) as his running mate.
“Well, he’s a friend of mine. I endorsed Ron. And after I endorsed him, he took off like a rocket ship,” Trump said.
Over the last 5 years, states like Georgia and Arizona have become bluer and helped Democrats gain control of the senate. At the same time, states like Florida and Ohio have become redder.
Florida, once the biggest swing state in the country, now has a GOP governor and two Republican senators. That does not mean, however, that Democrats can’t win there.
Val Demings, a Congresswoman from the 10th district, is very popular on both a state and national level. She was on Joe Biden‘s short list of Vice Presidential candidates. And the former police officer could have her eyes on a bigger Florida seat.
The congresswoman told Politico, “I’ve received so many calls and texts and emails, and have been stopped when I’m out and about by people who are asking me that very same question. Matter of fact, they think I should run for statewide office and maybe challenge the governor, or challenge Sen. Rubio next year. I’m seriously considering a statewide run. And we’ll see what happens.”
Demings had a highlight reel moment this week during an exchange with Jim Jordan. She responded to Jordan’s police officer comments by saying, “I served as a law enforcement officer for 27 years. It is a tough job, and good police officers deserve your support. It’s interesting to see my colleagues on the other side of the aisle support the police when it is politically convenient to do so.”
When Jordan tried to interrupt, she ruthlessly replied, “did I strike a nerve?”
Watch a video of the exchange below:
Let's just say things got pretty heated between Val Demings and Jim Jordan in today's House Judiciary meeting pic.twitter.com/SaE5gQBB7b
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) April 20, 2021
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) pushed back against requiring vaccine passports in his state, saying he wouldn’t allow them.
“We are not supporting doing any vaccine passports in the state of Florida,” he said. “It’s completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply be able to participate in normal society.”
Within weeks of being in office, Joe Biden passed a massive stimulus package. The legislation will put money in the pockets of millions of Americans and also aid countless small businesses.
The measure is favored by over 2/3’s of Americans and more than half of the country’s Republicans. GOP lawmakers are now in the unenviable position of having the slam the massively popular bill.
Rick Scott came up with an idiotic plan to show that the stimulus money wasn’t needed in Red States. The Florida senator wrote a letter to Republican governors. He urged:
“By rejecting and returning any unneeded funds, as well as funds unrelated to COVID-19, you would be taking responsible action to avoid wasting scarce tax dollars. After all, every dollar in this package is borrowed.”
