Governor DeSantis has been achieving great success with his “Don’t Fauci My Florida” campaign. It only makes sense that he would want his current objectives to align with his merchandise. DeSantis is a savvy politician who understands one key fact: every movement needs a villain for everyone to ride against. Otherwise, these types of plans are not going to get very far.
DeSantis has spent most of the pandemic using the Democrats’ incompetence as his own form of personal leverage. Dr. Fauci seems to have grasped this concept as well and he has been fighting back. The culture wars are on and the battle lines have been drawn. You’re either on the side of Dr. Fauci or Governor DeSantis and that is all there is to it.
In order to position himself as the leading contender to become president or vice president, DeSantis knows that he has to become the premier anti lockdown guy. There are all sorts of contenders who are coming for this title, like Kristi Noem. Unless DeSantis continues to handle these concerns in the same manner that he has been, he could risk losing his stranglehold on the Republican Party.
ALEC was addressed by the Florida governor recently and rightfully so. The CDC botched the guidance on masking badly and DeSantis was not about to miss out on his chance to take them to task for it. When these organizations make it this easy for the Republicans, these types of speeches are an absolute layup. Just call him Slam Dunk DeSantis, with the way that he makes it look so simple.
If you watch the speech, it is easy to go along with him. We agree with just about every point that he made. Of course, no one wants to go back to lockdowns. There’s no moral or legal justification for the lockdowns at this stage of the pandemic, which is something that Republican leaders have already been able to readily identify. The science also does not support these initiatives.
A vaccine-busting variant could change the equation entirely but that’s not where we are at yet. The Democrats want us to be back there so badly, so that they can continue to run roughshod over the rest of us. That’s why DeSantis and company are making sure to position themselves as the anti-Democrats. They are not going to allow any more school closures to take place, either.
The children suffered immensely because they were kept away from their teachers and classmates, as there was little to no evidence that they benefited from such an arrangement. By keeping the public schools in Florida open for a full year, DeSantis can signal to these residents that he has their best interests at heart always. This is not something that the Democrats can say and it’s their own fault.
The part about “no restrictions” is a bit much but we presume that he was merely playing to the crowd here. It would depend on what restrictions were being discussed. At this stage of the pandemic, we cannot imagine that too many people would be willing to go for it, on either side of the aisle.
DeSantis may be playing with fire when it comes to the remark about the “Faucian dystopia” because his state is currently dealing with the brunt of the Delta variant. Their case numbers are on the rise again, so he might be speaking too soon. This is the sort of hubris that could be punished and DeSantis should know this.
Deaths are off the peak totals from the earlier stages of the pandemic. DeSantis, if pressed, would claim that the rising cases are part of a seasonal wave. If he decided to defer to the local officials on how to handle various mandates, he would lose all of the ground he’s gained. We eagerly await his next move, that is for sure.
