No mask mandates in classrooms. No vaccination “passports.” And no more business shutdowns.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ management of Covid-19 has boosted his countrywide cachet among fellow Republicans as he seeks re-election to the governor’s mansion next year and mulls a run for president in 2024.
But the governor’s insistence on staying the course amid a skyrocketing number of infections — as of Monday, Florida had the highest Covid-19 hospitalization rate in the nation — is drawing fire as Democrats point the finger at the Republican incumbent.
Elected officials’ attitudes and actions about masks and vaccinations have become a flashpoint in the increasingly tribal nature of partisan politics. The ideological schism over preventive protocols in Florida has aided DeSantis’ rise as a national presidential contender and, at the same time, become a cornerstone of Democrats’ efforts to oust him.
“I think it’s gross politicization, and I think it’s shameful, and I think it’s based on a guy who’s got his eyes on the Republican nomination in ’24 instead of the governorship and the people of Florida in ’22. Clearly, that’s it,” Congressman Charlie Crist, a St. Petersburg Democrat who is running to try to unseat DeSantis next year, told The News Service of Florida during an appearance in Tallahassee. Crist served as governor as a Republican before becoming a Democrat and losing a 2014 gubernatorial bid.
DeSantis, however, isn’t backing down from his largely laissez-faire approach, even as the highly transmissible delta variant of the novel coronavirus tears through the Sunshine State.
“We are not shutting down,” DeSantis told reporters Tuesday. “We are going to have schools open. We are protecting every Floridian’s job in this state. We are protecting people’s small businesses. These interventions have failed time and time again throughout this pandemic, not just in the United States but abroad. They have not stopped the spread, particularly with delta.”
With DeSantis focused on an economic rebound, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who is running against Crist for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination next year, has assumed the mantle of the state’s chief Covid-19 information officer. She has been holding news conferences to discuss data on Florida’s infection rates and hospitalizations and using social media to blast DeSantis’ approach to the pandemic, such as his issuance of an executive order to block school districts from requiring students to wear masks.
“We stand in unity with our local school boards who have the constitutional power to protect our children and won’t be bullied or defunded by our wannabe authoritarian governor,” Fried tweeted on Wednesday.
DeSantis made national headlines last week when he issued the executive order, which came after he mocked federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations during an appearance at the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council’s annual meeting.
“We say no to lockdowns, no to school closures, no to restrictions, and no mandates,” DeSantis said at the Salt Lake City event, adding that people “should not be consigned to live … in a Faucian dystopia.”
DeSantis has made Anthony Fauci, a widely respected infectious-disease expert who has been part of the White House’s Covid-19 advisory team, a frequent object of scorn. The governor’s political committee, for example, is capitalizing on Republicans’ animosity toward the veteran public-health official through the sales of merchandise emblazoned with messages such as “Don’t Fauci My Florida.”
DeSantis’ wrath isn’t limited to the 80-year-old doctor, however. The governor has adopted a similarly combative stance with the CDC — he sued the federal agency for refusing to lift restrictions on cruises — and President Joe Biden’s administration.
But with Florida and Texas responsible for a third of the Covid-19 cases in the U.S. last week, the White House is punching back. Biden on Tuesday blamed DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for “bad health policy” amid the spikes in the two states.
“I say to these governors, please help,” Biden said. “If you aren’t going to help, at least get out of the way of the people who are trying to do the right thing. Use your power to save lives.”
Critics accuse DeSantis of pandering to GOP base voters — who turn out in large numbers for primaries — on issues such as face masks and his reliance on scientists and data considered to be outliers in the medical community.
But skepticism about masks and vaccines isn’t limited to Republicans, GOP political consultant Anthony Pedicini said in a phone interview with the News Service.
“Inherently, Americans don’t want the government to tell them to do anything,” Pedicini said. “Honestly, the very essence of who we are as Americans is manifest in this mask debate.”
Sentiment about the health-care precautions “doesn’t fall along party lines,” Pedicini added.
“It tears at the fundamental of who we are as Americans. We love freedom. The government shouldn’t ever tell us what to do.
The governor in Florida is not telling anybody they can’t wear masks. So if you feel uncomfortable or you feel like this is a life-threatening thing to you, put the mask on, put the mask on your kids and go about your day,” said Pedicini, who had Covid-19 in November, received a vaccination this year and is urging others to get the shots.
DeSantis has advocated for the use of vaccines but, unlike some other GOP governors in states experiencing increases in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations, has not pushed Floridians to get the shots. Roughly half of eligible Floridians are not fully vaccinated.
“Should the governor of the state of Florida be an activist? Yeah. And I think he is, in that he’s taking the side of freedom,” Pedicini said. “I think that has served him fairly well politically.”
With most recent polls showing DeSantis the frontrunner in the governor’s race, the Republican leader “feels strongly that he’s going to win re-election” and is “looking to the next game, which is clearly the presidential game,” political consultant Steve Vancore, who advises Democrats, said in an interview.
“You’ve got to be the most conservative, the most pro-Trump Republican of the field, and as such, he seems to be sticking to a script that is custom-tailored for his far-right base. There’s no part of Ron DeSantis that’s playing to the middle. He’s playing to the base at every step of the way,” Vancore said.
Covid-19 health-care protocols are being “used as a political pawn because our governor and others have found that it’s a political tool, while Floridians are dying or getting sick and people all over the country are,” U.S. Rep. Val Demings, a Democrat who is trying to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, said in an interview.
“Why can’t we just listen, our governor and others, be led by the science, be led by information coming from medical experts, follow their guidelines?” she said. “I really wish this issue would not be politicized, but it has been from the very beginning.”
–Dara Kam, News Service of Florida
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tulip says
So maybe a lot of these unvaxed Republicans will get very very ill and die and by election time that’s a lot less votes for DeSantis. Some of them won’t get it but maybe their children or grandchildren will get it. Nice legacy to give to them, (not) So far most of the covid/ delta patients in the Florida Icu’s are unvaxed and may stand a good chance of not making it through, or , if they do, will have long standing bad health issues. Meanwhile Trump is enjoying his power over those people and leaders and laughing his head off while he grifts money from his supporters.
Trailer Bob says
There are “unvaxed” of both sides of the isle, not just Republicans. And there are many Republicans who will not say they are vaxed…for fear of being insulted, etc.
Just use your brain and do what you feel makes sense to you after making sure you read up on the Virus and the Vaccines. There is a lot of NEW information on the virus AND the vaccines that intelligent people may wish to expose themselves to.
FlaglerLive says
The commenter is mischaracterizing the problem by suggesting a “both sides” equivalency that is simply not the case. Of course some on both sides are refusing the vaccine. But it is largely a Republican denial. As Alex Azar, secretary of health and human services under Trump, put it in an excellent analysis of the issue on Aug., 3: “As of mid-July, 43 percent of Republicans said that they have not been vaccinated and definitely or probably wouldn’t be, versus 10 percent of Democrats, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.”
disgusted says
As usual DeSantis doesn’t care about the people of Florida. He is just a political hack!
People are dying and he couldn’t care less!
David S. says
DeathSantis another loser just remember Texas and Florida the laughing stock of the USA.
Trailer Bob says
Good, maybe they will stop moving in. We have enough people already in my book.
Steve Robinson says
Ron DeSantis may actually be worse in some ways than his role model Trump, simply because he’s smart enough to know that his “policies” are killing people. DeSantis may be the most morally corrupt politician in the US right now, and that’s saying something!
DeSantis won’t so much as decide how to load the toilet paper dispenser–over or under–without first assessing how it will play with the Trump base.
And consider his pandering to Jewish voters in South Florida: He’s determined to ban critical race theory from Florida’s schools–basically kissing off the Black vote–while making it clear how important it is to teach kids about the Holocaust. I’m not aware of any modern history curriculum that doesn’t include the Holocaust, but that’s immaterial to DeSantis. And let’s not forget that DeSantis was right out front in condemning Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop selling their products in the West Bank. Florida hospitals are overflowing with Covid patients, but Governor Ron is going to make sure Floridians know what side he’s on when it comes to selling ice cream in the Holy Land
The man is a disgrace, and we should have realized it back when he put his children in his commercials, subjecting them to his “Build the Wall” monologs.
Sickening.
Aluma says
De’Santis’s Florida has been reduced to a song parody. Sing to the music “Johnny’s So Long at the Fair,” Folk Ballad 1770-1780.
Oh dear what can the matter be?
Dear, dear, what can the matter be?
Oh dear what can the matter be?
Ronnie’s so wrong and unfair.
There’s Delta, at his Grand Openings,
Defibulators, a bedpan, bed prones too.
He knows if we die, we’ll all die alone.
Ronnie’s so wrong and unfair.
He banned mask mandate for kids,
Churchly schools are in favor.
His scheme doles out our money,
As if he’s our Savior.
Ronnie’s so wrong and unfair.
He gave immunity to crazies,
Who’ll careen into dissenters.
A Trump-Truck, the screams,
And then a crime scene.
These deaths are foreseen,
But not by DeSantis.
Ronnie’s so wrong and unfair.
He gloats over, voter suppression,
Democrats’ concessions,
Insurrection, his deception.
Ronnie’s so wrong and unfair.
Oh dear what can the matter be?
Dear, dear, what can the matter be?
Oh dear, what can the matter be?
Ronnie’s so wrong and unfair.
marlee says
When he lived in our neighborhood in Palm Coast, the Republicans didn’t even like him…because he never spoke to anyone.
Jane Gentile-Youd says
I understand that he really lived in St. Augustine and that his Dad lived there on and off but that he had the TV set to go on and off to make it look like he lived there 24/7… Just hearsay – 100% hearsay… Perhaps nobody liked him because its hard to be friendly to ‘your neighbors’ when in reality you are NOT ‘one of your neighbors’ ( that is if the ‘hearsay’ is true…) Just saying
marlee says
Jane Gentile-Youd….
That is true…it was our neighborhood in Palm Coast.
Huge TV was on all nite long…he lived there part time and never kept up the property and never spoke to the neighbors.
Flaglerlive did an article about it.
shy guy says
I’m a registered GOP and can’t stand this creep governor. This a-hole will NEVER get my vote. If there wasn’t so many politicians in Florida with their heads in the sand an impeachment process should be taken.
Katrina says
So, DeSantis says that it is up to the individual what to do with their bodies relative to COVID-19, (mask or don’t, get the shot or don’t) but he signed on Thursday to a brief that calls for the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the landmark Roe v. Wade decision and leave abortion issues to states because we know where the GOP lead state of Florida is heading on that decision. Hypocrite.
This is all politically motivated. If he can get enough extreme right to move to Florida with the decisions he is making, then he gets to stay in office and will have the voter base for his future ambitions.
Stop supporting these politicians who are using voters only to support the agendas of the politicians and not the people.
Fredrick says
Love my Governor. Doing what is right for Florida from the beginning of this pandemic. Protected the vulnerable, ie didn’t send them back to nursing homes and slaughtering tens of thousands. Funny liberals gave another governor and Emmy for that and bought his book and gave him the limelight how well he did. Our Governor got us back open and saved business that were closing because of lock downs that did not work, while liberals shut down their state, ruined and put people out of business. People in those states are flocking here where our governor cares about the people of the state not selling a book. Our governor didn’t need to grovel for money from other states to prop us up because they ruined their states economy. Our Governor does not promote fear mongering and unnecessary panic. I did not like him when he was local….. but he has changed my mind and I support him fully. For all of you who are afraid, please stay in your homes with your masks on. The rest of Florida, and those who are flocking here from other liberal run disasters, we are going to live our lives. Please stay out of our way.
mausborn says
Here’s an equation for those who are still resistant to reality in FLORIDA:
My body + my willful ignorance + my rights + my irresponsible behavior + my consumption of crap news + my worship of greedy politicians = OUR CONSEQUENCES.
A.j says
Why are they soon angry at DeSantis. I am sure a lot of Dr’s. and Nurses voted for this man. Look what u got. He is right it is up to the parents to take care of their children’s health. All of us are responsible for our health, not the Govn. or any political leader, it is our decision, to mask get the shot, and to c a Dr. At the end of the day it is my life my decision. It is our decision our life, why get mad with DeSantis? He is taking a stand let take a stand and vote him out of office. Donald Trump took a stand too, but the people took a stand and voted him out of office. The same thing can happen to DeSantis, but it will take a well planned, effort to unseat him it can be done but will it be done?