Ron DeSantis: Anti-Police Rhetoric, ‘Weak Policies’ Causing ‘Disastrous Consequences’ in the U.S.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) explained on Monday why some areas of the country are seeing a tremendous crime wave, attributing it to “weak policies” and anti-police rhetoric, which he said are resulting in “disastrous consequences.”

Speaking from Green Cove Springs, Florida, on Monday, DeSantis said police officers around the country want to come to Florida because “the culture is better.”

“I do think you will see; I think you’ve already seen. But there are people in these police departments in various other parts of the country who, if they can get a job in Florida, they want to come to Florida to be able to do it,” DeSantis said.

“Because the culture is better, and they understand they’re going to be supported much more resolutely than what they do,” he continued before discussing the crime spikes across the country, noting “offenses are up” but arrests are down in some areas because officials are not even prosecuting crimes.

“The offenses are up, they’re just not being held accountable, so they don’t show up in the statistics,” DeSantis said:

DeSantis reiterated that Florida is “happy to be supportive of law enforcement”:

“We should look (at) what do we need to do. I know we’ve done some stuff with the [Department of] Corrections to try to make that more of a valuable enterprise. The pay is not great. We’ve done some stuff to try to increase that,” he added.

However, recently, the governor’s Democrat critics have accused him of being inconsistent, falsely asserting that his anti-riot bill —  which strengthens penalties for lawless behavior during a riot and makes it more difficult for localities to fulfill the left’s mantra of defunding the police — stands in direct contrast to his recent praise of Cubans protesting the tyrannical, oppressive, Communist regime:

Florida supports the people of Cuba as they take to the streets against the tyrannical regime in Havana. The Cuban dictatorship has repressed the people of Cuba for decades & is now trying to silence those who have the courage to speak out against its disastrous policies#SOSCuba pic.twitter.com/H71EYoKdUZ

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) July 11, 2021

Fascinating strategy from a number of Florida Dems.

Instead of supporting protestors in Cuba, they’re trying to argue DeSantis’s anti-rioting law would’ve prevented similar protests.

It wouldn’t have, but a good window into why they’re losing the voters they’re losing. https://t.co/b3jCyHs7Z0

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) July 12, 2021

Specifically, the anti-riot law, DeSantis said, “strikes the appropriate balance of safeguarding every Floridian’s constitutional right to peacefully assemble while ensuring that those who hide behind peaceful protest to cause violence in our communities will be punished.”

The law does not prevent peaceful protests, as some Democrats suggest. Rather, it increases penalties for violent rioters, including penalties for assault or battery on first responders. Notably, the law followed a year of Black Lives Matter and Antifa violence in major cities, hallmarked by rioting, looting, arson, and vandalism.