Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vows to restore name of Fort Bragg in NC speech

News and Observer ^ | 06/10/2023 | Avi Pajbai

[Drew68]

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking at the NCGOP convention Friday night, said if he’s elected president he would reverse the recent decision to change the name of Fort Bragg to Fort Liberty.

The promise by DeSantis to restore the name of the major military installation just north of Fayetteville, which earned loud cheers and applause from a ballroom full of Republican delegates at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro, came just as President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden left newly named Fort Liberty after meeting with members of the armed forces.

The presidential candidate was touting Republican successes in last year’s midterm elections in Florida, and in North Carolina, amid disappointing results in the rest of the country, when he brought up the recently renamed installation.

“I also look forward to, as president, restoring the name of Fort Bragg,” DeSantis said to raucous cheers from the crowd.

He added that he would “thank the people that have served there, and they’re proud of their service there.”

“It’s an iconic name and an iconic base, and we’re not going to let political correctness run amok in North Carolina,” DeSantis said as the crowd continued to cheer.

Earlier on Friday, at Fort Liberty, Biden signed an executive order to enhance employment opportunities for military families. The executive action is intended to improve career stability and expand resources and support for military and veteran spouses, caregivers and survivors.

Fort Liberty, named more than a century earlier in honor of Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general from Warrenton, was renamed as part of a Department of Defense effort to adopt new names for military installations that were named for Confederate soldiers.

[wildcard_redneck]

Useless political posturing approved and paid for by the Bush-Obama cabal.

[Erik Latranyi]

You mean that we sound like you DeSimps? How dare we.

No, we are not blind cultists who just adore the personality of our preferred candidate and attempt to throw feces at all the others.

We can acknowledge Trump's positives and accomplishments....something you cultists could never do for DeSantis because cultists are closed minded creeps.

[Kazan]

Screw the neocon establishment sellout that is owned by the Republican donor class.

[Skywise]

While I like the sentiment - this is down at like number 100 of the things that need to be done.

[BlackbirdSST]

No

Yes.

[EliRoom8]

if you had a relative at bragg...it’s a HUGE issue.

Exactly right. Many who have fought for this land passed through those gates. Lots of struggle immortalized at that site and under that name. Now in order to placate and patronize childish progressives we change it?

[jeffersondem]

“Trump always resisted this and supported openly under withering attack his support of southerners right to their history same as anyone”

You are correct.

And I don't understand why some don't understand when they stab DeSantis in the back on this issue, they are also stabbing President Trump in the back.

[combat_boots]

Or Hood

[wildbill]

Might be a great applause line in NC, but carries the risk of being called out as a unreconstructed rebel racist by current or future political opponents.

I think this was a desperate ploy for a few handclaps in the short run and shows a lot of weakness in his War Room thinking.

[Erik Latranyi]

And I don't understand why some don't understand when they stab DeSantis in the back on this issue, they are also stabbing President Trump in the back.

They do this because they are irrational creepy cultists that do not have a positive word for anyone except Trump himself. Everyone else is the problem or a RINO or some other derogatory term.

Unlike DeSantis supporters who can see the good ideas and record in Trump, the creepy Trump cultists can never admit DeSantis has done or said a good thing.

They have no honor or decency.

[lilypad]

Low hanging fruit

[oldplayer]

Republican candidates and elected officials alike, should embrace the fact that these famous bases ARE named for Confederate Generals and heroes. Use the precedent that the US Army reunited without rancor after a bloody Civil War that took over a million lives.

These military bases are the opposite of divisiveness when seen in that light, as most people (other than idiots on the left) will “get it.”

[lilypad]

DeSantis stabbed all his supporters and donors here in Florida.

[Kazan]

Anyone that would sit back and allow Democrats, the Republican establishment and Deep State to rig elections and keep a candidate out they don't care that would clean up the corruption in DC is part of the problem.

Even someone like Stephen A. Smith acknowledges what is going on -- that the powers that be can't beat Trump legitimately.

So, the Republican party, ALL OF IT -- rally Trump or his supporters will, in the words of Michael Brown's stepfather Louis Head, "burn this bitch to the ground".

It's Trump or communism in 2024.

[Dr. Sivana]

No, we are not blind cultists who just adore the personality of our preferred candidate and attempt to throw feces at all the others.

I support President Trump, and am not supporting DeSantis, but I agree with you. DeSantis running gives Trump an opportunity to sharpen his game. Also, when Trump was at his best early in his presidency, it was largely because he was doing so many things, large and small, that the left couldn't concentrate on all of them. They would get all worked up about toilet flushing and fast run dishwashers that there was nothing left in the tank to stop him from defunding Title X (Planned Parenthood).

You notice the left has a hissy fit when ANYthing they do, no matter how small, like a name change,is thwarted. Harry Reid would have the U.S. not pay bills if it meant that Cowboy Poetry wouldn't be funded. So, kudos to DeSantis, even if he isn't my pick. He cannot do wrong by doing right.

[redcatcherb412]

At least Benning got renamed for Colonel Hal Moore

Some of us old farts are still alive and kicking, where's the pushback from the Fort Bragg "All Americans" 82nd Airborne alumni?

These guys are watching

I am a gettin old, back from the times when body armor was the old cotton OD fatigue shirt.

[EliRoom8]

"combat_boots"

It appears as though you might be one who wore that footwear. In which case deepest regards.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

This is like pissing in the wind, as if this is a big issue for anyone.

Add up enough of those little things and you end up with America in 2023. The Left has been winning with small, incremental steps for decades now while conservatives pay no attention.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

This is like pissing in the wind, as if this is a big issue for anyone.

This is a major reason why the United States will need conscription to address its shortfalls in military recruiting and retention. You don't think this is a big deal?

[Night Hides Not]

I think DeSantis would strike a chord by saying he's eliminate half the General/Flag Officer billets in the military. Most of these perfumed princes were promoted by Obama, so we get a two-fer out of it.

Generals that have been away from troop units for five years or more add to the sclerosis affecting our military.