Florida Politics:
Media’s ‘phony narratives’ aren’t swaying people, says the Governor.
Gov. Ron DeSantis believes “lockdowns” are turning Democrats into Republicans.
During a Republican Governors Association town hall on Fox News Wednesday night, DeSantis made the case that Florida freedom is drawing people from blue states rejecting the media’s “phony narratives” about the state’s pandemic performance.
“The people (who) buy these phony narratives from these media; they’re probably not coming to Florida. But most people see through it. And the people who see through it, they think like us. So I think a lot of these people are coming. I think they’re registering as Republicans overwhelmingly. And I’ve come across a lot of people who quite frankly were Democrats,” DeSantis said.
“The lockdowns turned them into Republicans.”
“I think this whole process has caused people to reevaluate some of their prior commitments,” DeSantis added. “When they put teachers’ unions over the interests of kids being able to access an education at all, that tells you all you need to know about the modern Democratic Party.”
“That would not have happened if President Trump had not put the pedal to the metal and gotten the bureaucrats in line. If (Joe) Biden had been President, those vaccines would have taken three or four years,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis also answered a question about the party’s future being more than Make America Great Again and America First, seemingly a potential preview of what would be expected in a 2024 primary debate, should Trump not run.
“I think that’s the core of it. President Trump got the basics right. As times change, you have to look and see what new issues come along. You know, Reagan’s agenda was right for the time. People will talk about it,” DeSantis said. “You have to look and see what comes down the pike.”
The Governor continued with the nostalgia, lamenting how “blue states” got a better deal from Biden’s bailout, albeit with a fresh insight: He noted that in 2020, he vetoed a billion dollars in member projects, but for naught.
“I didn’t have to do that,” DeSantis said, “because they’re shoveling so much money at us. They’re rewarding states that have made bad decisions or not able to make tough decisions.”
