Media Inadvertently Campaign for DeSantis

As regulars already know, I have major issues with Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis. That said he remains, as I said then, the man to watch in the next presidential election cycle.

It's clear why from an admiring Jeff Reynolds piece at PJ Media.

Two major factors are that DeSantis is not risk-averse or driven by polling, and that the news media -- blatantly slanted to everyone but themselves -- keep acting as dishonest foils to be exploited by his aggressive press secretary, Christina Pushaw.

DeSantis's recent signing into law of HB 1557 (aka Don't Say Gay) is an excellent example of both points:

I'd rather hear about lowering taxes for everyone than threatening to raise taxes as punishment for exercising freedom of speech. (Image by Carlo Pelagalli, via Wikimedia Commons, license.)

Case in point: the "Don't Say Gay" bill. DeSantis and his press staff clearly believed the voters of Florida (and nationwide, for that matter) could see through the lies about House Bill 1557 told by the Democrats and their lackeys in the media. So they went on the attack again. The bill was designed to protect parents' rights in education, ensuring kids wouldn't be exposed to inappropriate sexual and gender instruction at the earliest stages of school -- kindergarten through third grade.

"Before Governor DeSantis signed this into law, there was a full-court press from the media trying to smear and demonize proponents of the bill as 'hateful, bigoted, homophobic,' and many other false and hurtful epithets," Pushaw told PJ Media. "Due to the corporate media narrative, many Americans incorrectly believed that the bill targeted gay parents. Simply reading the text of the legislation would have dispelled this misconception."

Pushaw notes that, contrary to agenda-driven left-wing polling figures, a majority of Democrat voters favored the legislation when shown the text of the bill.

Although I was disappointed with DeSantis's fascistic attempts since to punish Disney for siding against the bill, I always thought he had a good point: I don't think it is appropriate to teach prepubescents about sexuality.

(And, while I think government schools should be abolished, I think that as long as we have them, they shouldn't be in the business of sex education for anyone, anyway. If anything, I regarded DeSantis as having not gone far enough in taking that out of the government schools.)

I remain very leery of Ron DeSantis. On the one hand, he certainly shows the spine that Republicans and voters like me have wished to see in an opponent to the left. On the other hand, what difference does it make if we end up with a fascist instead of a socialist in the bargain? Yes, we must defeat the left. But we also need to replace central planning with capitalism.

-- CAV