In the past two days, Ron DeSantis has challenged a new federal rule safeguarding same-sex marriages, requested a grand jury to look into Covid-19 vaccinations, and scored a legislative victory that would hurt lawyers’ wallets.
In the upcoming weeks and months, DeSantis will take additional measures to win over conservatives to his cause. There are already rumours that state legislators would hold extra legislative sessions from now until March to address topics like abortion and guns.
The steps this week continue the momentum DeSantis built after the Florida governor won reelection by about 20 points last month; they are important to guarantee he doesn’t look to peak too early. Despite the fact that he has not yet declared his intentions to run for president. If DeSantis launches his campaign sometime in the late spring, he will have a long list of successes to appeal to Republican voters as former President Donald Trump fails to generate the same enthusiasm as he had in 2016.
Christian Ziegler, the vice chair of the Republican Party of Florida, said of the man, “Considering how relentless he is for the conservative cause, I can’t imagine a scenario where he ever takes off the gas.” But after the voters made it so apparent in November that they wanted more — not less — of his conservative agenda, I really cannot picture him holding back.
Despite DeSantis’ frequent claims that he ignores polls, Republican voters continue to support him. Three polls released this week show the governor ahead of Trump, whose support for DeSantis in the past helped him win the GOP primary that year.
An ardent DeSantis fan and longtime political strategist in Tallahassee claims the governor is staying true to his image while acknowledging Donald Trump, who declared his own campaign in November, may participate in a hypothetical Republican primary.
The consultant, who was given anonymity so that he could talk freely about DeSantis, said, “This is not self-aggrandizement to run for president. These are topics that, intellectually speaking, are quite important to him.
And people with connections to the previous president are still talking about DeSantis’ behaviour. Kellyanne Conway, a former senior Trump adviser, said DeSantis’ comments on same-sex marriage on Laura Ingraham’s show the previous evening were “very eye opening and astonishing” and demonstrated that he is not a moderate.
DeSantis stated that there was “absolutely no need” to enact a new federal statute that codifies rights for same-sex and multiracial marriage on Ingraham’s programme. Even though most Republicans voted against the new law, Congress enacted the proposal with bipartisan backing.
If you have folks who are predisposed to be very aggressive against that, they are leveraging the power of the federal government in ways that will unquestionably put religious organisations in difficult situations, according to DeSantis. There was no need for this, and I agree that the concerns raised were legitimate.
Three years ago, during the Covid-19 outbreak, DeSantis began to gain national attention when he resisted mask regulations and pushed for businesses and schools to reopen much more quickly than many other areas of the country. That positioning has only intensified as he has pushed for initiatives in the areas of immigration, education, and healthcare that have been roundly criticised by Democrats and liberals and received regular coverage in both conservative and mainstream media.
However, DeSantis focused much of his attention on reminding voters about his Covid-19 principles during his reelection campaign. He even aired a campaign ad in which people in Florida thanked him for his anti-lockdown and anti-mandate stances.
DeSantis is enhancing his résumé as some Republicans start to distance themselves from Trump in the aftermath of the GOP’s underwhelming performance in the 2022 midterm elections. DeSantis is among the contenders that many Republicans are hailing as the party’s new face.
The governor’s decision to request a grand jury investigation into the Covid-19 vaccines rekindled discussion of that controversy and may help him win over more Republican Party supporters who share DeSantis’ growing concern about the doses. DeSantis visited the White House during the campaign to develop a new vaccine, and he was outspoken about giving them to older folks first. But during the past year, DeSantis’ public pronouncements have changed to reflect an increasing degree of doubt regarding vaccines, especially whether they have negative side effects for children.
A large portion of the medical world has underlined that the vaccination reduces Covid infections and can lessen severe symptoms, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FDA, and Johns Hopkins.
Democrats and health professionals were outraged by DeSantis’ comments on Tuesday, which received widespread condemnation.
Florida residents, according to Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, “sure as hell aren’t bothered about vaccine producers and we respect our family, friend, and neighbours to live their lives as they wish.” As his chances of becoming president increase, Ron is getting sucked more and deeper into illusions of the extreme right.