In this installment of their weekly Sunday Six conversation, PF Whalen and Parker Beauregard of The Blue State Conservative discuss the six most impressive moves by our favorite governor, Ron DeSantis.
PF: #6: Signs bill in November banning vaccine mandates in the state, and holds the signing ceremony in Brandon, Florida.
PF: Full disclosure, I’m a huge fan of Ron DeSantis, and have been since the very early stages of his 2018 gubernatorial campaign against Andrew Gillum. He was bold from the beginning, and extremely impressive. But of everything DeSantis has done as governor, this might be my favorite, simply because of the symbolism.
It was great that he took a stand against federal tyranny with the mask mandates that were ultimately struck down by the Supreme Court. And his rhetoric justifying his actions was refreshing due to its focus on freedom and individual liberties. But politics is often a game of optics. It’s largely entertainment, and whoever can best craft their narrative and then deliver that message effectively will usually win the battle. DeSantis’ delivery of his message with this bill was priceless.
Not only did DeSantis sign this bill, he signed it in Brandon, Florida. We’re all familiar with the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon” being a stand-in for the more vulgar “F— Joe Biden” chants that began emerging last summer. But DeSantis chose to sign this bill in Brandon, Florida only weeks after the original incident occurred that propelled “Let’s Go Brandon.” DeSantis himself helped give the movement its legs by signing the law in that town, and symbolically embraced the sentiment of “F— Joe Biden.” It was both masterful and ballsy by DeSantis. Bravo.
#5: Ron DeSantis returns to the right of teaching sensitive topics to parents, signs the Parental Rights in Education bill.
Parker: Ron DeSantis is feared by the left, so every little decision he makes is magnified a la Donald Trump by the Democrats’ corporate media allies. They have to smear him with slander and lies, lest he walk all over them in 2024 or 2028.
Nothing better captures that approach to covering and reporting on him than their outright panic over the “don’t say gay” bill, a bill that neither criminalizes nor even references homosexuality. Like I said, though, they have to smear him because they can’t win if they’re being honest. I don’t think anyone reading this post is unaware of this particular bill. It lit the world up on its own and then it led to the downfall of Disney within a week, so both the earthquake and tremors have been felt across the cultural, political landscape.
Banning gender theory, race theory, and other toxic leftist elements is not only the right thing to do, it is the moral thing to do. Kids that get indoctrinated into this nonsense are literally being denied the right to a normal, healthy mental adulthood. If I had any complaints about this bill, it’d be that it doesn’t go far enough. However, it goes farther than any other state governor has had to the stones to do, so let’s take the win.
#4: Signs election integrity bill on Fox & Friends.
PF: Like the vaccine mandate bill we detailed in #6, what’s appealing about this move by DeSantis isn’t just the content of the law and his role in enacting it, it’s the manner in which he did it.
DeSantis signed this bill into law last May only weeks after the uproar over a similar law was approved in Georgia. The left and their media were having a meltdown over Georgia’s law to no avail, and were pulling out all the stops in attacking Republicans calling them racists, fascists, and every other nasty name they could come up with. But not only did DeSantis follow through and sign this bill, he made sure there was plenty of pomp surrounding his endorsement. He signed the bill on national TV, and not just on any old network.
DeSantis signed this bill into law on Fox News, an outlet whose very mention is enough to trigger many leftist snowflakes. Once again, the message from DeSantis was unmistakable. The governor was essentially giving Democrats and their media cronies a big middle finger. Screw you, lefties, this is what I’m going to do, come have a look.
This is the approach more Republicans need to take. Don’t shy away from the backlash, go on the offensive. Take them head-on. And that’s exactly what DeSantis does.
#3: Ron DeSantis repeatedly goes after Big Tech – enabling private citizens to sue social media giants and potentially leveraging state power to sue Twitter over its most recent actions.
Parker: I am going to begin with a cliche phrase: Like it or not. The reality is, though, whether we like it or not, Big Tech is here to stay. It is easy to romanticize the past, particularly when it comes to looking around the damage done by tech advancements and social engineering, but the reality is we live on a timeline when technology has always turned a corner for humankind.
So, I don’t take the approach of eradicating social media or wasting my time thinking how life would be better without Facebook. And neither does Ron DeSantis. Instead, he lives and operates in the real world. Twitter isn;t going anywhere and neither should freedom. Rather than wish it away, he is making freedom and accessibility work for him.
Last year, DeSantis signed SB 7072 that would allow citizens to sue Big Tech platforms that censored or took them down, it would allow the state’s attorney general to bring suit on plaintiffs’ behalf, and it would even allow political candidates to sue if they were removed while campaigning for state or local offices.
Then, this past week, DeSantis signaled he would be looking into a lawsuit against the board of Twitter for their abandonment of acting in the best financial interest of their shareholders.
#2: Calls for repeal of special privileges for Disney Corporation after the company immersed itself into woke politics, State Senate passes the bill the following day.
PF: This episode happened just this past week and is truly a blueprint for other Republicans. The left is playing for keeps and have been using bare-knuckled tactics for year. Meanwhile conservatives tend to tiptoe around issues and try not to hurt anyone’s feelings. This is how it’s done.
The Parental Rights in Education Law that was passed last month in Florida is both reasonable and necessary. There’s nothing in it about “don’t say gay.” It merely takes discussions about gender and sexual orientation out of school curricula for kids nine years old and younger, which is wholly reasonable and supported by a wide majority of Americans. But Disney decided to go after DeSantis and the state government by lying about the bill and taking the side of child indoctrination. Bad idea, Disney.
The Disney Corporation has enjoyed virtually complete governmental autonomy with their properties in Florida, including Disney World. They’re essentially self-governed and not subject to many of the state regulations that other companies are. When they decided to punch at DeSantis over the parental rights bill, DeSantis’ response was to shut down this Disney cut-out. He asked his legislature to pass a law on Wednesday, and by Thursday it was approved.
Disney’s going to learn an expensive lesson about speaking out when they ought to shut up, and other companies will take note as well. Stand up to the wokesters in your company and remind them who’s in charge. We don’t need them or you shoving your twisted values down the throats of our kids. Next time, you worry about your company and let our elected officials run our governments.
#1: He signed the nation’s toughest anti-riot bill.
Parker: Of all the things DeSantis has done, this one has probably received the least amount of attention. Sure, it stirred controversy immediately by the same, predictable loonies, but if you were to ask your average leftist amigo about this, they’d probably return a blank stare. To be fair, leftists usually only ever return a blank stare.
I will let the New York Post take it from here to describe this bill:
“[It] enhances penalties for crimes committed during riots or violent protests in the Sunshine State.
It also permits authorities to hold arrested protesters until their first court appearances, and will establish new felonies for taking part in, or organizing, violent demonstrations.
The law also strips local governments of civil liability protections if they interfere with law enforcement’s efforts to respond to a violent protest.
It also adds language to state law that could force local governments to justify a reduction in law enforcement budgets.
The legislation will make it a second-degree felony — punishable by 10 years behind bars — to destroy or demolish memorials, plaques, flags, paintings, structures or other objects commemorating historical people or events.”
The next time BLM/Antifa want to get uppity, they will burn down the usual areas in Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, etc., etc, but guess what? Florida, Floridians, and the homes and businesses of everyone there will be safe. Ron is doing a lot of winning.
