Gov. Ron DeSantis continued a trend of oppositional messaging to the Democratic administration in Washington on a so-called “travel ban,” delighting a crowd with strong rhetoric Friday morning in West Palm Beach.
“There’s been some stuff in the news recently. I’ve been very strong. But we’re also not going to let Joe Biden quarantine Florida or ban any travel. Not going to happen. Nope. Sorry,” DeSantis said, eliciting cheers from many of those in attendance for an event at a hotel that blended policy and a preview of the DeSantis campaign persona for 2022 and, if all goes well, 2024 on the national stage.
DeSantis has blasted what he describes as a “lockdowner” President and advisors, routinely scoring political points in response to a Miami Herald report floated earlier this month and disowned repeatedly by the administration since.
“Any attempt to restrict or lockdown Florida by the federal government would be an attack on our state, done purely for political purposes,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in Port Charlotte Thursday morning. He added that “if anyone tries to harm Floridians or target us, we will respond very swiftly.”
The proposal was especially offensive given Biden immigration policy, DeSantis argued.
“And if you think about it, restricting the right of Americans to travel freely throughout our country, while illegal aliens pour across the southern border unmolested, would be a ridiculous, but very damaging, farce. So we will oppose it 100%,” DeSantis added.
The Governor’s insistence on hammering the issue was clear in a fundraising email last week claiming, “Biden thinks I’ll roll over.”
“Joe Biden and his Big Tech overlords think they can silence me and the millions of patriots who are fighting for America First instead of the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and the rest of the China-loving globalists,” the pitch claims, urging a “contribution to support my America First agenda,” and to send a message to every “RINO, Socialist, and fake news media that you are in this fight.”
Expect messaging against the so-called travel ban, however nonexistent it may be, to continue. This Governor has a political future predicated on it.
This article first appeared at Florida Politics.
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This article appears in Feb 18-24, 2021.