Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) seemingly became a household name overnight during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, challenging the mainstream media’s narratives and norms and forging his own approach — blocking out the critics and pursuing freedom-centric policies that have continued to send members of the corporate media and Washington bureaucrats into state of disarray.
And he is not showing any signs of stopping.
DeSantis took the helm as Florida’s governor in January 2019. Little did he know that the next year would spiral America into one of the most unconventional situations in modern American history, as fears of the Chinese coronavirus spread like wildfire, leading to millions of Americans locking down and radically changing their way of life. But as more information came out and officials showed no signs of halting unscientific rules, regulations, and mandates, DeSantis took action, taking the bold step of reopening the state despite anger and warnings from critics. The following months were filled with micro battles as the mainstream media continually upheld former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) New York as the gold standard for proper virus protocol, despite seeing the highest number of fatalities and thousands of livelihoods destroyed via extended lockdowns.
DeSantis’s freedom-centric move proved to be right, following the true science showing the inefficacy of forced masking (Florida, which never had a statewide mask mandate in place, routinely reported fewer new cases of the virus than pro-lockdown blue states) and challenging the mainstream narrative. Many states eventually followed in Florida’s footsteps, but even when they were reopening, many local and state officials attempted to force vaccines on individuals, forcing them to make a choice between getting the shot and keeping their job.
DeSantis took no part in that as his administration fought vigorously for medical freedom, signing legislation in November 2021 designed to protect Floridians from losing their jobs over vaccine mandates. At the time, it was described as the “strongest piece of legislation that’s been enacted anywhere in the country in this regard.”
The proof of the popularity of DeSantis’s policies are in the numbers, as the Sunshine State saw the highest level of domestic travel in the state’s history last year. Since then, DeSantis has continued to describe his state as the “free state of Florida.”
While the actions taken throughout the pandemic thrust the governor to the national spotlight, DeSantis’s work has not ended there. He has continued to make national headlines for actions taken beyond reopening his state throughout the pandemic. The conservative firebrand’s frequent press conferences have become a fan-favorite of Floridians, as the governor refuses to shy away from speaking truths and tackling issues that far too many political hopefuls lose the gumption to do once they actually take office. That has not been the Florida governor’s style, and he is showing no signs of stopping.
Parental rights soared to the national spotlight during the Virginia governor’s race. Former gubernatorial hopeful Terry McAuliffe (D), perhaps, encompassed the mentality loathed by many American parents after he proudly declared. “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” Then-candidate Glenn Youngkin (R) capitalized on that, vowing to root out the Marxist ideology — Critical Race Theory (CRT) — from schools, and he secured a victory — a victory that sent a national message. Parents had enough.
DeSantis did not ignore the national outcry as the Florida legislature took on the same issue, leading to his signature of a measure designed to ban Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools.
“We believe in education, not indoctrination,” DeSantis said in April, adding that they are “not going to allow teach that a person simply by virtue of his or her race, color, national origin or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive.”
“That’s wrong,” he added.
“We are not going we’re going to make sure a person’s moral character or status as either privilege or oppresses necessarily determined by his or her race, color, national origin or sex. That is not allowed. That is wrong, and we are not going to teach that,” he declared.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Monday stressed the importance of reflecting on Memorial Day, emphasizing that we “would not be the country that we are without those patriots sacrificing their lives so that we could pursue happiness.” https://t.co/oI2hxjSYDk
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 31, 2022
That same month, DeSantis defended the Florida Department of Education for rejecting dozens of books due to the infusion of Common Core and Critical Race Theory (CRT).
Coinciding with that was the debate over the Parental Rights in Education bill, which prohibits classroom discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity for children in kindergarten to third grade. The left vehemently fought against the bill, falsely calling it “Don’t Say Gay” even though the legislation does not target a single sexual orientation whatsoever. DeSantis did not buckle, even as the legislation made national news, signing the bill and hitting Disney back — moving to end the company’s self-government privileges and continually noting their hypocrisy of profiting off of working with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)– after the supposedly family-friendly company vowed to fight the law, which champions parental freedoms.
“And look, there are policy disputes, and that’s fine, but when you’re trying to impose a woke ideology on our state, you know, we view that as a significant threat. This wokeness will destroy this country if we let it run unabated,” the governor warned.
In recent months, the topics have gone far beyond cultural issues, as Americans are experiencing rampant inflation and ever-rising gas prices, hitting new record highs on a near-daily basis.
DeSantis has consistently pointed back to the Biden administration.
“They’re canceling oil and gas leases in places like Alaska and the people, the people that have to fill up their gas tanks are the ones that are paying the price for those bad policies,” he said last month, knocking Biden for attacking American energy independence and running to dictators for help. He has also referred to inflation as a “self-inflicted wound,” pointing, again, to Biden’s policies and explaining that the prices of everyday goods are actually much higher than the inflation rate.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis arrives to speak during a press conference at the University of Miami Health System Don Soffer Clinical Research Center on May 17, 2022 in Miami, Florida. The governor held the press conference to announce that the state of Florida would be providing $100 million for Florida’s cancer research centers, after he signs the state budget into law. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“I mean look gasoline up about 50 percent over the last year plus used cars up 35 percent, to be able to get a used car. Gas utilities up 22 percent, meat and poultry up 14 percent, electricity up 11 percent,” he said in April, explaining that basic “staples that people need to just live a basic life are going up much higher than 8.5 percent.”
As a result, the DeSantis administration took action again as he signed a $1.2 billion tax relief bill as an attempt to relieve Floridians of the burden of Biden’s economy. That relief package includes a series of tax-free holidays, including an upcoming $200 million gas tax holiday taking place in October, which is expected to reduce fuel prices by about 25 cents per gallon. The holidays also make baby items, including diapers, tax free for the next year.
But most recently, DeSantis’s administration is setting its sights on another highly contested topic — one that is likely to make national headlines. As Breitbart News exclusively reported, the state’s Secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) requested a report from Florida Medicaid on the issue of trangenderism and “gender-affirming” care. It is set to release a formal report questioning the science behind what radical transgender activists tout as “gender-affirming” care for those who believe that they are actually a member of the opposite sex:
In consultation with several experts, the report concludes that sex reassignment surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross sex hormone treatments for people with gender dysphoria are not proven as “safe or effective” treatments and are “experimental and investigational.”
“Studies presenting the benefits to mental health, including those claiming that the services prevent suicide, are either low or very low quality and rely on unreliable methods such as surveys and retrospective analyses, both of which are cross-sectional and highly biased,” according to the document.
The study suggests that there is not a sufficient medical consensus showing that sex reassignment treatments, including puberty blockers, cross sex hormone treatments, or surgeries, are safe and effective. This would put Medicaid’s coverage of such outside of the condition of the treatment being “consistent with generally accepted professional medical standards (GAPMS) and not experimental or investigational.” In other words, the DeSantis administration is gearing up to end government funding of such procedures — a move likely to spark yet another political firestorm nationwide.
This is not the first time DeSantis has touched on this subject, as he signed a landmark bill last year protecting women’s sports.
It remains to be seen where this goes, but DeSantis’s track record speaks for itself. He will go “there,” staying ahead of the curve, and refusing to allow anyone to stop him.
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