DESANTIS APOCALYPSE

Gov. Ron DeSantis has found out that running for president out of the Florida anti-woke bubble isn't easy, even when your campaign and political action committee has raised millions of dollars.

In Florida, the governor has a compliant legislature that takes his alt-right political ideas, adopts his slogans and makes his proposed laws even crazier. If DeSantis reaches too far and breaks the law, the lawmakers change the law. If he wants to run for president without resigning from office, it's done. If a county commission, school board or city council doesn't step in line, the legislature sets it up so the governor can remove them from office.

However, DeSantis hasn't found the campaign trail outside the Sunshine State nearly as worshiping. Many voters don't have his woke obsession and aren't enthused about his legislative achievements. His claim of being the winner that the Republican Party needs is brushed aside when voters see he barely won his first term and defeated a has-been former Republican in 2022.

Thus, the governor is a distant second in most polls of likely GOP primary voters.

Republicans aren't as fixated on the LBGTQ+ community and the COVID pandemic as he is. While DeSantis tries to use Covid policies and vaccine mandates to gain an edge on former President Trump, people have moved past the pandemic.

Rolling Stone reports that Republican operatives and pollsters shared their surveys showing that Covid-related issues do not rank in the top 10 of concerns among voters. They say there is some lingering frustration over mandates and closures, but the voters have more significant issues.

When you take out Covid, "a winner" and attacks against the gay and trans communities, what does Gov. DeSantis have left to campaign on? Border security? Fortunately, the governor's immigration message isn't much different from Trump's or any of the presidential hopefuls.

His awkward personality adds to his ineffective messaging and lack of a positive vision for the nation. DeSantis has attracted megadonors,

White Collar Crimes

but he is wooden on the one-on-one aspect of retail campaigning. He reminds me of Jeb Bush, whom many saw as the frontrunner in 2016 but was low energy on the campaign trail. Like DeSantis, he spent millions on his campaign but failed to move up in the polls.

We are left with a governor who has put his political career ahead of the needs of Floridians and chosen to work only with his base while ignoring what the majority of the state wants and needs.

Ryan Wiggins of The Lincoln Project summed up DeSantis' problems well.

"He has spent too much time fighting culture wars this past legislative session and the past couple of years and trying to find space in the political right of Trump and not enough doing things for actual Floridians that matter," she said on my WCOA morning show.

And his Florida anti-woke principles aren't playing as well as he wanted as his laws and policies are being initiated. His Florida State Guard has been transformed from a group to help with emergencies to the governor's private army. DeSantis can't find experienced leaders to serve as the director, recruits have complained about the training, and military veterans say the organization lacks structure and a clear mission.

Public education has become a mess. The book banning has disrupted all 67 of the state's school districts without improving reading scores. New laws about mentioning gender and race and accusations that teachers are indoctrinating and grooming children have led to a record number of teaching vacancies statewide.

Meanwhile, property insurance has become prohibitive. None of the new laws have curbed the rise in premiums. Farmers Insurance and AAA have announced that they are leaving the state. DeSantis has said we will be fine if the state isn't hit by a hurricane.

I worry about what the governor will push through during the 2024 Legislative Session to try to revive his campaign, but with some luck, the DeSantis Apocalypse will end in 2024 if we survive until then. {in} rick@inweekly.net