Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) touted his accomplishments while speaking in Tampa at a Turning Point USA Student Action Summit. He discussed how the country is better off because Florida led the way in combating COVID lockdown policies.
“If not for Florida, the lockdowners would have won,” DeSantis said. “The country is better off for what we did.”
He also took aim at a number of national issues like the border crisis stemming from President Joe Biden’s inaction.
“It’s destroying these societies. Because the inmates are running the asylum,” DeSantis said.
Similarly, DeSantis pointed out his effort to fight “woke ideology” and Critical Race Theory.
“They want to use CRT to distort American history,” DeSantis said, to “replace it with their leftist ideology.”
He made note of the numerous reports that the United States military has been struggling in hitting their recruiting numbers and DeSantis cited the reason for the lag is due to poor leadership.
“Now what’s going on, the military can’t recruit. The recruiting has gone to the basement,” DeSantis said, because “the recruits know the leadership has lost its way” and “would rather be talking about pronouns than winning wars.”
While speaking this weekend at a different event, DeSantis invoked the Bible as an inspiration for his philosophy.
“You gotta be ready for battle. So put on the full armor of God,” DeSantis said. “Take a stand against the Left’s schemes. Stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. You will face fire from flaming arrows, but the shield of faith will protect you.”
There has been much speculation regarding DeSantis’ prospects of running for president in 2024, but he has continued to deflect any possible rumors. However, at the Turning Point USA event, a presidential primary preference poll of the young conservative attendees showed a hypothetical head-to-head Republican primary between former President Donald Trump and DeSantis. Trump carried nearly 79 percent of the poll’s respondents with DeSantis carrying 19 percent.
Conversely, another poll showed DeSantis and Trump were virtually tied. Some polls within Florida gave the nod to DeSantis over Trump.
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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at The Florida Capital Star and The Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
Photo “Ron DeSantis” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
