Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is no stranger to stir the public opinion, as he ran down Biden in a fiery address to roughly 1,500 supporters Saturday night at a Republican fundraising event.
While Trump was inciting others out in Tampa, Florida, DeSantis talked about his stewardship of the Sunshine State, while denouncing “woke” excesses and calling for a red wave in November.
The GOP firebrand and potential 2024 presidential candidate repeatedly mocked Biden by using his disparaging “Brandon” moniker, branding his presidency a wide-ranging disaster that has weakened the country.
“Democrats and Brandon, they deserve a big red wave crashing down on them,” DeSantis said as attendees rose from their surf and turf entrees to cheer. “If you look at what we’ve done in Florida, we have stood up to the media, we have stood up to people like Fauci, to Brandon himself.”
DeSantis reprised his backhanded concern for the president’s COVID-19 diagnosis during his speech at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
“We should all extend our best wishes to the President Joe Biden for a speedy recovery from his bout with COVID,” he said. “Hopefully, the United States will have a speedy recovery from its bout with Joe Biden.”
DeSantis touted the state’s less stringent lockdown policies and rejection of vaccine mandates as having preserved its economy. That approach, he argued, has significantly reddened what has long been a purple state.
“When I got elected governor, there were almost 300,000 more registered Democrats in the state of Florida,” he said. “Today, because of our efforts, there are now 220,000 more registered Republicans.”
DeSantis went on to discuss more controversial policy initiatives to the receptive audience, including his ban on instruction related to sexual orientation and gender identity to young kids.
Critics, including major corporations like Disney, argued that the legislation foments hostility towards the LGBTQ community and called for its repeal.
But DeSantis reveled in his showdown with the Magic Kingdom Saturday night, arguing that the state’s largest employer was deserving of having its special tax status repealed.
“We do not need to be jamming some left wing sexual agenda down their throats,” DeSantis said of his law that opponents call the “don’t say gay” bill.
DeSantis even pointed fingers at the naval branch serving the U.S. by saying they are now serving some weird form of ideology.
“Then, you go to the real world, and what is the Navy doing? They have videos about things like pronouns,” he said. “And I’m thinking to myself, you know, China is laughing at us.”
With a slew of law enforcement officials in attendance, DeSantis lobbied against prosecutorial leniency and calls to defund police departments.
“What happens in those areas?” he said. “Crime goes through the roof and the inmates run the asylum. It got so bad that they actually had to recall the district attorney of San Francisco. Even those liberal voters couldn’t stomach it.”
Positioning himself as a party maverick, the polarizing governor took aim at the GOP establishment.
“If Republicans get majorities in the Congress, I’m sick of them talking,” he said. “I’m sick of them telling us what they’re going to do, I’m sick of them going on cable. Because you know in Florida, we don’t just talk, we do.”
Drawing both fierce support and intense opposition, DeSantis has vaulted to the fore of the GOP in recent years, setting up a potential clash with Trump should both men vie for the Republican nomination in 2024.
The asshat that wrote this article sure comes across like a democratic activist instead a ‘journalist’. Typical of any news either in print or media. Sad state of affairs.