Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is showing exactly why the Democrats and their friends in the media love to hate him. He is capable, successful and has a lot of backers/ donors. The Democrats and the mainstream media see a big threat in DeSantis and, therefore, they have decided to demonise him. They see him as Trump’s heir apparent and someone who can sweep the 2024 polls if he decides to run for President.
Over the recent past, DeSantis has been in the news time and again. And as such, DeSantis’ has managed to rise above a smear campaign run by his opponents. Presently, the charismatic Florida Governor is in news for presiding over a successful battle against the COVID-19 Pandemic and also managing healthy support from GOP donors.
Democrats and the mainstream media started a campaign to tarnish DeSantis’ image in March this year. A report had surfaced at the time that Publix had been granted “special access” to sell the coronavirus vaccine in Palm Beach County in exchange for a $100,000 campaign donation. However, on the same day, the Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat, completely shut down that narrative.
Moskowitz had tweeted, “This idea why Publix was picked has been utter nonsense. We reached out to all pharmacies and they were the only ones who at the time could execute on the mission. The federal government delayed the federal pharmacy program and we yet again stepped up first to serve more seniors.”
Anyhow, CBS News’ “60 Minutes” picked up the issue later on. During a March 23 news conference “60 Minutes” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi asked DeSantis about the allegations, and in a lengthy answer, he thoroughly debunked her narrative.
The deceptive coverage was, of course, debunked quite easily. But this brings us to the question- why do Democrats and mainstream media hate the Florida Governor?
Well, DeSantis’ track record should give us a clue. The Florida Governor has handled the COVID-19 Pandemic exceptionally well. And Florida’s vaccination strategy has actually worked wonders.
DeSantis had to face criticism from his detractors for vaccinating the elderly first. But the Florida Governor did not care for them and went ahead with his plans. His administration ensured that every 3 out of 5 Florida seniors get vaccinated. More than 7.2 million people in Florida across all age groups have been already vaccinated. And guess what? It worked wonders. Earlier this month, Florida reached a new landmark- it restricted new Coronavirus deaths to single digits.
Compare DeSantis’ performance with that of liberal darlings like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and you will understand exactly why Democrats are afraid of the Florida Governor. Probably, this is also why the liberal US media feels compelled to air heavily edited videos that vilify DeSantis.
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Nevertheless, DeSantis’ successful battle against COVID-19 is not the only cause of worry for the Democrats. DeSantis is a seasoned politician and a staunch Republican. He knows how to handle things and earlier this year, Florida also proposed a legislation addressing censorship, election interference and privacy concerns. The aim of the legislation was to rein in Big Tech following the shocking social media bans against former President Donald Trump.
DeSantis had then spoken about the legislation at a press conference. He had alleged that Big Tech had “come to look more like Big Brother.” The Florida Governor had also accused that social media companies of practising “viewpoint discrimination” and engaging in “coordinated, calculated efforts” to promote a political agenda during the last elections.
GOP donors understand how DeSantis is here to stay. As per POLITICO, as the Republican Party moves forward, the national donor interest in the Florida Governor is skyrocketing. In the past two-plus months, DeSantis has managed to secure six-figure contributions from top Republican donors like Bernie Marcus, Paul Tudor Jones and Steven Witkoff.
Right now, the donations are focused around DeSantis’ 2022 reelection effort. But with his rising popularity, donors are bound to start looking at 2024 also. Presently, Trump looks like the first choice of Republicans for the next Presidential elections. But DeSantis is not someone who can be ruled out and this is exactly what gets the Democrats worried.