Before everyone starts bickering/bantering about Trump vs. DeSantis, ask yourself honestly what the c19 scam would've looked like had DeSantis not been decisive about FREEDOM very early on in the Summer of 20'.
Wow nothing is banning gay people so you need to stop saying it is. The so called don't say gay bill said teachers or faculty couldn't talk to third graders about any kind of sex. No books are banned in Florida. Pornographic books are banned in schools. Why in the world should elementary schools be teaching anything about sex.?
The first mistake is thinking DeSantis spends more than .001% of his time fighting Disney, or that Disney does not enjoy a very favorable/uncompetitive advantage over other competitors in Florida in the first place. The second mistake is thinking DeSantis is only the Governor of Florida, because he absolutely kicked ass when he was in Congress, too. Thirdly, this article failed to mention Reagan would NEVER watch Republicans bashing each other when the real opponent is the Democrats that are fine with $6 trillion in annual spending with $4 trillion in annual tax revenues. We need to stand above the noise and pick the conservative most likely to win in November 2024 - or else it's all coming to an end sooner than anyone can imagine.
"It is alone among major states in lacking any first-rate colleges or universities"
What??
Alex, Florida's colleges and universities are rated NUMBER 1 pretty much every year by US News, the ranking that most people care about. And thanks to DeSantis and a supportive Legislature, they will be a lot less woke than institutions in other states, which will only serve to attract more students here than ever.
That "state's most important company" had a sweetheart deal as regards their property that they no longer deserve. Gov. DeSantis leveled the playing field for all the other large employers. We can debate whether DeSantis would have taken that step had Disney not sided with the child groomers but we'll never know and it doesn't matter. Where is Disney World gonna go?
Alex Berenson is an American treasure-and that's why I subscribe to his Substack and read all of his John Wells novels. What he isn't, however, is an astute political analyst. In his panegyric supporting Governor DeSantis-a political leader with some very strong credentials-he misses the forrest from the trees. The biggest issue in my view is that this country is in danger of being suborned by a congerie of anti-democratic, free speech hating, deconstructors of all the values that have made this country great. In pursuing this essentially fascist agenda, they illegally conspired to spy on the democratically elected President, colluded with a like-minded corporate media to suppress damaging information of the incumbent's opponent, and have developed a sophisticated disinformation complex to suppress views that threaten this growing interlocking leviathan of antidemocratic institutions. The reactions to Covid are the tip of a much larger sinister iceberg. The political threat we face as a country goes way beyond the microcosm reflected by the actions of a single governor of one state. The country needs a charismatic leader who can galvanize a cross section of Americans. There is a nasty battle ahead. Everyone should understand that political leadership in this moment needs to be courageously sui generis. I'm not convinced Ron Desantis is that leader; and whether that leader exists.
This all sounds wonderful and how I wish it were true. Ron won't be that if he gets in office, not with being backed by the Bush dynasty and other RINO elitists. He is already being controlled by them with this flip flopping on Ukraine. Sorry, just not wanting to gamble when I know what we had with Trump--America WAS great again. We all felt that in our pocketbooks and in the safety we had in our country. DeSantis is too weak, plain and simple. Trump is a proven fighter each and every day.
the way ron desantis becomes president is to end his campaign immediately, become a huge booster for trump, and finally moving on to crush newsome in 2028
Thank you Alex, great column. I live in Florida and we love DeSantis and I support 100% his fight against “wokeism”. I believe that presently one of the greatest dangers for my grandchildren is this out of control transgender movement which has taken over the country. DeSantis has made it illegal to perform any sex change surgeries on children. He moved on this fast, and yes, they were grooming our children. Teacher’s job is to teach Math, Reading, History etc It is not their job to teach little ones ANYTHING sexual. A law had to be passed to keep this from happening. Unbelievable that it has come to this. We have lived in Florida since my husband and I were children. We visited Disney World since it opened, with our children and then our grandchildren for many, many years. Last time we were there was 2019. We were noticing the changes. We haven’t been there since. We do support DeSantis fight with Disney. Now we go to Universal Studios.
In the end, unfortunately, Trump failed when it mattered - in crisis. He sat by while the biggest violations of constitutional rights and freedoms took place on a massive scale. He let the cities burn, riots to continue - including just outside the White House. Many of the people he hand-picked for key roles turned on him. He did accomplish many important things during his administration (both foreign and domestic) even while being hamstrung by the Russian collusion thing - so credit where credit is due. But he failed utterly when it mattered most. DeSantis, on the other hand, performed best when under the most pressure.
Dropping this here while it's still early in the thread....
Anyone who truly believes that DeSantis will be beholden to "elite" donors, tell me this: Do those elite donors support all these ultra-conservative things that DeSantis signed into law?
* Parental Rights in Education (i.e., the No, You Can't Sexualize Our Kids at School law)
* Transgender bathroom law
* 6-week abortion ban
* Banned vaccine mandates
* Banned mask mandates
* Banned drag shows in front of minors
* Banned CRT
* Banned ESG investment policies at the state level, and prohibited ESG bond sales
* Shipped a planeload of illegal aliens to a self-avowed "sanctuary" destination to prove its hypocrisy
And those are just the highlights! There is so much more...
DeSantis wasn't beholden to his gubernatorial donors, nor his Congressional donors. Why would he behave any differently as president?
If you accuse RDS of being a "RINO" or an "elitist" but you don't live in Florida and/or haven't been keeping up with the governor's activities, you might consider sitting this one out.
Alex, you just can't help yourself. You just can't let go of deeply ingrained Northeast regional leftist thinking and a tendency to make statements rooted in ignorance or regional arrogance ("lacking in first rate colleges and universities"). And most of the country doesn't see a problem with anti-grooming laws, regardless of what New Yorkers think is "naive". It's also funny that the article you linked proudly proclaims "PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida" at the top of the page.
I'll vote for either Desantis or Trump. But I don't think that either one of them should be taking campaign advice from someone who just can't let go of his inner liberal - even when he knows deep down that his inner liberal is a liar. It's kind of like people who still advocate for masks and vaccines, regardless of what the data shows.
I for one can’t forgive Trump for the whole vaccine debacle, he and he alone pushed operation warp speed. No candidate is going to be perfect but I like Desantis’s record and accomplishments.
Before everyone starts bickering/bantering about Trump vs. DeSantis, ask yourself honestly what the c19 scam would've looked like had DeSantis not been decisive about FREEDOM very early on in the Summer of 20'.
Wow nothing is banning gay people so you need to stop saying it is. The so called don't say gay bill said teachers or faculty couldn't talk to third graders about any kind of sex. No books are banned in Florida. Pornographic books are banned in schools. Why in the world should elementary schools be teaching anything about sex.?
And the reason we have the cultural rot we have is that we didn't engage in the culture wars early on.
The first mistake is thinking DeSantis spends more than .001% of his time fighting Disney, or that Disney does not enjoy a very favorable/uncompetitive advantage over other competitors in Florida in the first place. The second mistake is thinking DeSantis is only the Governor of Florida, because he absolutely kicked ass when he was in Congress, too. Thirdly, this article failed to mention Reagan would NEVER watch Republicans bashing each other when the real opponent is the Democrats that are fine with $6 trillion in annual spending with $4 trillion in annual tax revenues. We need to stand above the noise and pick the conservative most likely to win in November 2024 - or else it's all coming to an end sooner than anyone can imagine.
"It is alone among major states in lacking any first-rate colleges or universities"
What??
Alex, Florida's colleges and universities are rated NUMBER 1 pretty much every year by US News, the ranking that most people care about. And thanks to DeSantis and a supportive Legislature, they will be a lot less woke than institutions in other states, which will only serve to attract more students here than ever.
I think you should take that back.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education
That "state's most important company" had a sweetheart deal as regards their property that they no longer deserve. Gov. DeSantis leveled the playing field for all the other large employers. We can debate whether DeSantis would have taken that step had Disney not sided with the child groomers but we'll never know and it doesn't matter. Where is Disney World gonna go?
Alex Berenson is an American treasure-and that's why I subscribe to his Substack and read all of his John Wells novels. What he isn't, however, is an astute political analyst. In his panegyric supporting Governor DeSantis-a political leader with some very strong credentials-he misses the forrest from the trees. The biggest issue in my view is that this country is in danger of being suborned by a congerie of anti-democratic, free speech hating, deconstructors of all the values that have made this country great. In pursuing this essentially fascist agenda, they illegally conspired to spy on the democratically elected President, colluded with a like-minded corporate media to suppress damaging information of the incumbent's opponent, and have developed a sophisticated disinformation complex to suppress views that threaten this growing interlocking leviathan of antidemocratic institutions. The reactions to Covid are the tip of a much larger sinister iceberg. The political threat we face as a country goes way beyond the microcosm reflected by the actions of a single governor of one state. The country needs a charismatic leader who can galvanize a cross section of Americans. There is a nasty battle ahead. Everyone should understand that political leadership in this moment needs to be courageously sui generis. I'm not convinced Ron Desantis is that leader; and whether that leader exists.
The University of Florida is a top-10 public school nationally, top 5 in some rankings.
Sexual orientation discussion is allowed in schools for 4th graders and older, as long as it is age appropriate.
This all sounds wonderful and how I wish it were true. Ron won't be that if he gets in office, not with being backed by the Bush dynasty and other RINO elitists. He is already being controlled by them with this flip flopping on Ukraine. Sorry, just not wanting to gamble when I know what we had with Trump--America WAS great again. We all felt that in our pocketbooks and in the safety we had in our country. DeSantis is too weak, plain and simple. Trump is a proven fighter each and every day.
the way ron desantis becomes president is to end his campaign immediately, become a huge booster for trump, and finally moving on to crush newsome in 2028
Thank you Alex, great column. I live in Florida and we love DeSantis and I support 100% his fight against “wokeism”. I believe that presently one of the greatest dangers for my grandchildren is this out of control transgender movement which has taken over the country. DeSantis has made it illegal to perform any sex change surgeries on children. He moved on this fast, and yes, they were grooming our children. Teacher’s job is to teach Math, Reading, History etc It is not their job to teach little ones ANYTHING sexual. A law had to be passed to keep this from happening. Unbelievable that it has come to this. We have lived in Florida since my husband and I were children. We visited Disney World since it opened, with our children and then our grandchildren for many, many years. Last time we were there was 2019. We were noticing the changes. We haven’t been there since. We do support DeSantis fight with Disney. Now we go to Universal Studios.
I like Part 2 better than Part 1, but I still think DeSantis is onto something fighting this woke culture and companies.
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/powerful-people-and-organizations
In the end, unfortunately, Trump failed when it mattered - in crisis. He sat by while the biggest violations of constitutional rights and freedoms took place on a massive scale. He let the cities burn, riots to continue - including just outside the White House. Many of the people he hand-picked for key roles turned on him. He did accomplish many important things during his administration (both foreign and domestic) even while being hamstrung by the Russian collusion thing - so credit where credit is due. But he failed utterly when it mattered most. DeSantis, on the other hand, performed best when under the most pressure.
Dropping this here while it's still early in the thread....
Anyone who truly believes that DeSantis will be beholden to "elite" donors, tell me this: Do those elite donors support all these ultra-conservative things that DeSantis signed into law?
* Parental Rights in Education (i.e., the No, You Can't Sexualize Our Kids at School law)
* Transgender bathroom law
* 6-week abortion ban
* Banned vaccine mandates
* Banned mask mandates
* Banned drag shows in front of minors
* Banned CRT
* Banned ESG investment policies at the state level, and prohibited ESG bond sales
* Shipped a planeload of illegal aliens to a self-avowed "sanctuary" destination to prove its hypocrisy
And those are just the highlights! There is so much more...
DeSantis wasn't beholden to his gubernatorial donors, nor his Congressional donors. Why would he behave any differently as president?
Here are his main gubernatorial donors:
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/575979-these-seven-donors-each-gave-ron-desantis-re-election-campaign-more-than-1m/
And his key Congressional donors:
https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00034746&cycle=2018
If you accuse RDS of being a "RINO" or an "elitist" but you don't live in Florida and/or haven't been keeping up with the governor's activities, you might consider sitting this one out.
Alex, you just can't help yourself. You just can't let go of deeply ingrained Northeast regional leftist thinking and a tendency to make statements rooted in ignorance or regional arrogance ("lacking in first rate colleges and universities"). And most of the country doesn't see a problem with anti-grooming laws, regardless of what New Yorkers think is "naive". It's also funny that the article you linked proudly proclaims "PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida" at the top of the page.
I'll vote for either Desantis or Trump. But I don't think that either one of them should be taking campaign advice from someone who just can't let go of his inner liberal - even when he knows deep down that his inner liberal is a liar. It's kind of like people who still advocate for masks and vaccines, regardless of what the data shows.
I for one can’t forgive Trump for the whole vaccine debacle, he and he alone pushed operation warp speed. No candidate is going to be perfect but I like Desantis’s record and accomplishments.