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November 19, 2021

Ron DeSantis's fiery statement about true conservative governance

By Andrea Widburg

Media types have two modes when asking politicians questions.  If they're Democrats, the questions are softballs about ice cream and the things they'll do to save the world.  If they're Republicans, the questions are meant to highlight the politicians' cruelty, hypocrisy, or stupidity.  One journalist, though, learned that when that Republican politician is Ron DeSantis, asking a gotcha question about conservative governance is a way to bring a rain of fire down on the journalist's head.

When it comes to Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, I tend to agree with a comment Matt Walsh made on a podcast, which is that DeSantis has Trump's courage without Trump's baggage.  Two differences between the men are, first, that, while Trump had an instinct for the Constitution, DeSantis has a lawyer's deeper understanding of the document, and two, that DeSantis is better at keeping his eye on the ball.  That means he remembers to make his statements about the American people rather than about himself.

Both those qualities came through strongly on Thursday when DeSantis chose Brandon Honda, located in the City of Brandon, Florida, as the venue for a press conference.  The reason for the press conference was to sign anti-mandate legislation:

All in all, a delightful bit of trolling.

Things got even better when a reporter tried to embarrass DeSantis by asking him if anti-mandate legislation isn't a form of big government antithetical to DeSantis's conservative credentials.  The reporter might as well have tried to tickle a cobra with a stick, because things did not go well for him after that.

The question is a bit hard to hear, but the reporter apparently is asking how DeSantis can simultaneously get angry at the federal government for trying to mandate vaccines when he's using his state government to prevent vaccine mandates.  The reporter doesn't seem to grasp that there's a difference between using the vast power of the federal government to force people to inject something into their body (a no-no under the Constitution) versus the state using its power to protect people from such force (a yes-yes under the 10th Amendment).

DeSantis, however, did grasp the difference, and he schooled the reporter with enthusiasm (emphasis mine):

 

So, first of all, this idea that somehow conservativism is about, like, local school boards, it's the United States of America, not the united school boards or counties commissions of America. So, the states are the primary vehicles to protect people's freedoms, their health, their safety, their welfare in our constitutional system.

What Biden is doing is not constitutional. There has never been a federal vaccine mandate imposed on the general public.

 I hear people talk about, you know, they do things in the military. Yeah, when I was in the military, they used to give me all kind of stuff. Honestly, I wish I would have thought a little about it but whatever it was.

But that's much different than regulating the military and then imposing it on civilians in society. It's never been done before. They don't have the power to do it. There's no federal police power. States have the police power. So that's from a constitutional perspective. It is worlds, worlds apart.

Now, some people say, "Hey, these local governments wanted to lock down businesses, they wanted to force mandates, they wanted to keep the kids locked out of school. Yeah, you're damned right I overruled them on that because they were wrong. And the fact of the matter is you don't have the right to do wrong.

And if I had not stepped in last year and made sure that these local governments couldn't lock you down, couldn't mandate, we wouldn't let 'em fine, we had kids in school last year because of me, not because of them. And that's just the bottom line.

So, people can say is it the job of somebody that's elected to look out for the liberties of everyone in the state or do you just say 'Hey, if somebody's violating your freedom, we shouldn't do anything'?

The fact of the matter is, if we would have let them lock the kids out of school last year, we would have paid the piper for years and years in this state. If we had let them lock down businesses and restrict and do all that, we would have one of the highest employment rates in the country. So, we had to stand up for people's liberties, their livelihoods, their right to work, people's right to own a business, and it was the right thing to do.

But what Biden is doing, he does not have the...he even admitted he doesn't have the authority to do it. Psaki admitted that they don't have the authority to do it. And in fact, even six months ago they are all saying 'Of course you never mandate. Of course, you never mandate.'

And so the question is, do we actually have a constitution that constrains people like Biden or is it just when he loses patience, he can do whatever the hell he wants to? No, I'll take the Constitution, thank you very much.

So far, DeSantis has proven that he understands the Constitution, including federalism and states' rights; he recognizes that the driving force behind the Constitution is individual liberty; he has political courage; he keeps his eye on the ball; and he knows how to and is willing to troll the Democrats.

Politicians have a way of disappointing us, but, for now, DeSantis is playing the game better than just about anyone else on the conservative side of the aisle.

Image: Ron DeSantis.  Twitter screen grab.

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