Posted on 06/02/2021 7:04:57 AM PDT by Kaslin
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In an exclusive interview with The Federalist, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis challenged the right to take a proactive stance on cultural issues, not just a defensive one.
“Do you want to be the Harlem Globetrotters or do you want to be the Washington Generals? D.C. Republicans, a lot of them are my friends, but they’re like lovable losers,” he said. “They let the corporate media define the narrative and it’s like trying to fight your way out of a wet paper bag. You have to reject these narratives.”
Recognizing Americans who “aren’t captive to the Acela corridor or the far left coast,” DeSantis noted a hunger for strong and active conservative leadership. “If all you’re doing is, the Democrats propose $2 trillion in infrastructure [legislation], so we say we’ll do $1.5 trillion, that’s not going to animate anybody,” he said. “That’s just Me Too Republicanism and ultimately that’s not going to be successful.”
As someone many Republicans have looked to for leadership in the absence of national power, DeSantis emphasized the gravity of cultural threats the country is facing, and the necessity of engaging them. “As much as I’m a fiscal conservative, some of these battles with what the left is doing are effectively cultural Marxism,” he said. “You can have a successful economy, but if the underpinnings of the culture are being torn apart, I don’t think that’s a society that will be very successful.”
In an exclusive interview with The Federalist, @GovRonDeSantis says that the GOP needs to engage the culture war: "If the underpinnings of the culture are just being torn apart, I don't think that that's a society that's going to be very successful over the long term." pic.twitter.com/BmcFoPAXc8
— The Federalist (@FDRLST) June 1, 2021
While so many Americans feel they’re on the defensive against an onslaught of cultural threats to their faith, families, and patriotism, DeSantis encouraged them to fight back. “The goal is not to just lose ground more slowly,” he said. “The goal is to regain ground in an offensive direction.”
“This last year was a fundamental test [for the Republican Party] about leading against lockdowns and leading to get kids in school and leading to make sure people weren’t under the yoke of oppressive regulations,” said the governor, noting his lawsuit against the federal Center for Disease Control over its attempt to force the cruise industry to require vaccine passports from passengers. “We are going to pry open every portion of this country one way or another.”
“If it’s Florida leading by example, we will do it, DeSantis added. “But there’s also a number of key issues that we really need to be dealing with,” he said, citing his actions on protecting girls’ sports, holding Big Tech accountable for censorship, supporting law enforcement, and fortifying election integrity.
After signing a law to keep biological males from competing against female athletes in Florida, DeSantis emphasized his willingness to stand up to woke corporate pressures. In response to boycott threats from groups like the NCAA, he insisted “we’re not going to let corporations run the state, particularly woke corporations.”
“We’re not going to be bullied by groups like the NCAA,” he added, noting the NCAA has since backed down from its threat to relocate events from states with laws like Florida’s. Still, “I’m totally willing to sacrifice an event in order to stand with the girls of my state,” DeSantis said. “It’s an easy decision, and I don’t view it as pressure as much as saying, ‘the battle lines are clearly drawn, so which side are you going to be on?’ So we’re obviously on the side of the women athletes in this state.”
"I'm totally willing to forego some of these things based on people's ideology if it means that we're standing strong to protect opportunities and the integrity of the competition for women athletes. It's an easy decision," @GovRonDeSantis tells @_etreynolds for The Federalist. pic.twitter.com/ZRvXXqPwMM
— The Federalist (@FDRLST) June 1, 2021
He also slammed the role corporate media has played in the culture war. “You just can’t trust ’em. They’ve always had biases but it’s much different than bias now,” said the governor, who recently withstood a partisan smear from CBS’s “60 Minutes” fabricating a fake scandal about Florida’s vaccine distribution. Corporate media “are basically spinning partisan fact-free Orwellian narratives, so when facts present themselves that undercut those narratives, they will simply either ignore those facts or actually affirmatively try to smother the facts.”
“In some respects, [corporate media] really are the heart and soul of the Democrat Party,” he added. “The politicians are on the side, it’s really corporate media that drives their agenda.”
“I don’t think there’s ever been as many hostile cultural forces, whether it’s corporate media, universities, big tech, now big business,” DeSantis continued. “If you’re an American who believes in the core values of this country — faith, family, opportunity — you are absolutely on the defensive in many respects, so the question is, how do you fight back effectively.”
These voters need strong leadership, he added. “If you lead and particularly if you’re willing to take some arrows along the way, there are voters that will do whatever they can to make sure they have your back.”
“Stop trying to grovel in front of [corporate media outlets], stop thinking that they’re going to like you,” DeSantis concluded, calling for Republicans to fight the narrative being pushed by corporate media as well as Big Tech, the Biden White House, and woke corporations. “Republicans need to understand where the battle lines are being drawn.”
“Then be the party. Take it over from the ground up.”
***********
With all due respect (and I mean that sincerely) I don’t believe that the GOP can ever be reformed from within. This would be like the soldiers and associates trying to reform the Mafia. Not going to happen IMO.
My view is informed by having people close to me who once worked inside various GOP organizations. Trust me, the party doesn’t work for you and me. It works for the big donors and special interest groups.
I don’t dispute that its theoretically possible to take control of the party from the bottom up. But as a practical matter its just not going to happen. In DC money trumps everything.
The RNC/GOP apparatus has a remarkably strong track record converting newly elected people into RINOs. Its the one thing the party is consistently good at. It also has demonstrated time and again its ability to avoid accountability and efforts to change it. It is a durable institution in the true sense of the word. Reagan couldn’t reform it and neither did Trump. What does that tell you?
I also don’t think we have the time to rebuild the party. It could take decades and there’s no guarantee of success. By then we could have a REAL conservative party functioning instead of relying on a fake one. Imagine how great it would be to vote for a party that actually stands for something and fights for it.
We both want the same thing (a real party that represents the interests and values of conservatives) but we have different opinions on how to accomplish it. But that’s OK. Different perspectives make the world go around. :)
Well then we should do both. There’s 80 million of us. Hard to find the big donors to start a new party. Takes a lot of money to build up the infrastructure.
Agree. If you’re going to fight one of the first things you need to do is get rid of the dead wood, resisters and backstabbers in your own organization. If you can’t do this you have no business taking on the outsiders.
As they say, fortune favors the bold. DeSantis would do well to remember that.
DeSantis is emerging as a bone fide true leader for the GOP along with Trump. He’s doing things, not just pretending like the Congressional GOP.
I can go along with the dual track approach. Better to have two chances to succeed than just one I guess. :)
My theory (and I could be wrong) is that a critical mass already exists for a new party so I don’t see funding as being a big problem. Based on your number an average donation of just $25 would bring in $2B. Imagine what a little more could bring in. I also think that a new party would be such a draw that it would literally make the GOP extinct overnight. I mean, who would want to stay in the GOP if a far better alternative existed? Why keep buying a faulty product when something better is available?
Millions of conservatives are sick and tired of being stabbed in the back and I don’t think there’s any dispute about that. There’s a thirst for real political representation.
If Trump would get behind a new party it could be up in a matter of months. Remember, he does things at Warp Speed. :)
Granted, there are a lot of “if’s” above but we have to do something. The future of the country is at stake and I’m not at all comfortable with relying on the GOP to advance our interests.
Like I’ve always said...they’re nothing but a bunch of gutless wonders.
We’ve got nothing to lose. TX and FL are on the same demographic track as CA. We can start building a party now or continue throwing good money after bad with the terminally corrupt GOP. In another decade or two it will be all over. The Dems will have an electoral college stranglehold and the only alternative will be the Potemkin opposition of a Romneyesque GOP.
OMG lodi don’t even mention a NEW party on this site to many people here still falling for the BS of taking over the party!! I am VERY SURPRISED to think that they don’t realize that for the past 5 DECADES we have tried to take over the party, these bastards are ENTRENCHED there till they drop dead and there is not a damn thing we can do about it!! Merkowski actually LOST her primary then the BITCH does a huge write in campaign and WINS pure BS!!!
Fixed it.
Kaslin is a GOPe hag and never sticks around. Post and run.
If nothing else, the precinct strategy would help at the precinct and county levels and county level automatically helps at the state level at least as far as the House goes. That would help create a defense against an encroaching fedgov. You know what they say, gotta get your own house in order first.
I would like to see all R candidates commit to vote to REDUCE the size of government, REDUCE its budgets and REDUCE the scope of its control over us. Any elected official who doesn’t produce evidence of meeting this commitment should be rejected by conservative voters.
The ballooning size, scope and power of government is at the very heart of most of our problems today. If we can’t elect people who will downsize this overbearing monster there is no hope for us.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.