JUST IN: Governor Ron DeSantis gets handed a participation trophy by a man during a campaign stop in Iowa, drawing some laughs from the crowd.

X ^ | 1.13.24 | Collin Rugg

[MayflowerMadam]

“I voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020, as my record here clearly shows, “

Yeah. Right.

[Jamestown1630]

There are Republican candidates that I don’t favor; but I tend to go by Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment, despite how long ago that was (and even though I’m not officially a Republican).

[MayflowerMadam]

Most of my close friends here in TN have spent every January-May there for 30 or more years. They reported that the gov closed beaches, restaurants, stores, etc., in 2020.

I don’t know first hand, only what they told me.

[thesearethetimes...]

Lurker,
How long did it take before DeSantis responded to Trump’s attacks on him? The name calling? Weeks, even a month or more. I remember clearly many here questioning why Trump was treating DeSantis as enemy number one.
Am I remembering it incorrectly?

[Golden Eagle]

You’re going to try and deny I was a Trump supporter LOL? Even after we spent so many days tracking the trials on here together in December 2020? Do you not remember, our real time commentary back and forth right here on FR? I can find a link if your memory is that bad, but my guess is, your devotion to Trump is just urging you to stir things up and deny what you know is the truth. My how people have fallen.

[dragnet2]

If something like this was done to Trump, we’d all be in an uproar, not giggling at it.

Good grief! We're supposed to feel bad over some individuals prank, when Trump is the most threatened, attacked, persecuted, investigated, lied about president in American history? 24/7 for 8 years nothing but attacks on Trump from every direction...But DeSaster gets pranked and suddenly this is outrageous?

What a joke!

[Golden Eagle]

There were countless news stories out there at the time that explain exactly what happened - DeSantis didn’t want to close Florida down, and only finally did so at Trump’s urging. But DeSantis was then one of the first who re-opened the state.

Check the multiple sources at this link:

https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/florida-governor-relents-to-mounting-public-pressure-and-issues-stay-at-home-order/

Gov. Ron DeSantis had been resistant to taking the step, despite fears that Florida—with a largely aging population in combination with a lot of young travelers—could be among the states hit hardest by the virus. A phone call with President Donald Trump finally helped sway him.

Florida’s coronavirus cases kept ballooning, especially in the dense neighborhoods of Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Hospitals in Fort Myers and Naples begged for donations of masks and other protective equipment. Young people started to die. And still, Gov. Ron DeSantis resisted. The man entrusted with keeping many of the country’s grandparents safe did not want to dictate that all Floridians had to stay at home. What it took for Mr. DeSantis to change his mind on Wednesday and finally issue a statewide order were a phone call with President Trump and a grave reckoning. A day earlier, the White House had projected how many American lives might be lost — up to 240,000 — without a national commitment to immediate, drastic action in every state.

For more than a week, DeSantis said a statewide order was unnecessary because many parts of the state ― particularly large swaths of central and northern Florida — had few if any cases. When asked about the issue Tuesday, the governor said he wasn’t issuing an order because he had not been told by the White House coronavirus task force that an order was necessary.

ETC

[mbrfl]

Thanks for that info. I wasn’t aware of that. SD is even redder than FL. Around 90% of their state legislature is Republican.

[mbrfl]

Good point.

[mbrfl]

While the rest of us were justifiably outraged over the steal, DeSantis and his team immediately saw it as an opportunity. If Trump had just gone away DeSantis could have run this year, pretended to be Trump’s natural successor, and likely would have fooled many. As it turned out he still decided to run even after Trump declared he was running, so DeSantis’s super-MAGA routine, his “I’m Trump’s biggest fan” routine couldn’t work, even though he tried it briefly.

[mass55th]

The days of Ronald Reagan are over and done with. We will never see his like again, nor the respect he showed for others in his party, even though members of his own party didn't give him the same respect he gave them. When Donald Trump passes, there will never be another like him either, especially not in the time I have left on this earth.

There are too many Republicans, especially in Congress, who don't deserve any respect. They don't give it to their constituents, and they abuse the people who put them in office. To speak ill of them is telling the truth. Republican politicians are no better than anyone else. If they are a-holes, they should be called out as a-holes, even by members of their own party. Being silent, and not calling someone out when they deserve it, is nothing more than condoning their behavior.

[Drew68]

How long did it take before DeSantis responded to Trump’s attacks on him? The name calling? Weeks, even a month or more. I remember clearly many here questioning why Trump was treating DeSantis as enemy number one.

FWIW, Trump rolled out "DeSanctimonious" one week before the midterm elections.

DeSantis had never said a bad word about the guy.

[Chgogal]

I voted for DeSantis November, 2022 to be my Governor for another term . He was a great governor. Then he pulled a bait and switch. You two are from Georgia and Illinois. It doesn't affect you his bait and switch trick. It bugs the hell out of me.

[StAnDeliver]

"Why an effective conservative Governor who fought for freedom during Covid is continually ridiculed on this site is truly astonishing."

Really? You mind pointing out which Freeper handed this Meatball a participation trophy?

"Governor who fought for freedom during Covid"

Yeah, not so much...

Ron DeSantis praised Anthony Fauci for Covid response in spring 2020 for ‘really doing a good job’
CNN ^ | Thu June 1, 2023 | Andrew Kaczynski,

Posted on 6/3/2023, 12:26:58 PM by SoConPubbie

Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is attacking former President Donald Trump for “turning the country over to [Dr. Anthony] Fauci in March 2020” but DeSantis was praising the chief public health official at the same time in previously unreported quotes, saying Fauci was “really, really good and really, really helpful” and “really doing a good job.”

In other comments, the Florida governor said he deferred to Fauci’s guidance on COVID-19 restrictions and later cited his guidance when communicating the policies he was putting in place early in the pandemic in the state of Florida.

[mbrfl]

The idea that a professional politician who rose through the ranks and was financially dependent on GOPe donors, could possibly be Trump 2.0, was always laughable. I still have a hard time believing how many Freepers never understood this. Trump said it perfectly and clearly on the debate stage in 2015 when he explained that everyone else on that stage was controlled by their donors - as simple a message as it was true. And yet, for so many, it just went in one ear and out the other.

That the sun will rise in the morning is less certain than that a professional politician will choose his donor’s interests over his constituents.

[cgbg]

“Whatever else DeSantis may be, he is still the Governor of the State of Florida, was duly elected by the residents, and as such is entitled to basic respect for the office he holds.”

This humiliation is called “tough love”—and builds character.

Let us hope he has the humility to accept the lesson and return to Florida and be an excellent governor serving the citizens instead of special interests.

[Golden Eagle]

So what?

Trump not only turned the entire country over to Fauci for basically all of 2020, Trump then gave Fauci a medal on Trump’s last day of office in 2021!

Yet you want to somehow blame DeSantis for Fauci?

Delusional, or deceitful, one or the other.

[Hiddigeigei]

“Whatever else DeSantis may be, he is still the Governor of the State of Florida.” "Does he know that?"

These are the key bills signed by DeSantis this year (2024)

Sweeping elections package
Six-week abortion ban
Concealed carry without a permit
Eliminating unanimous jury decisions for death penalty
Capital sexual battery
Sweeping crackdown on immigration
Limiting China’s influence in Florida
Restricting transgender Floridians’ access to treatments and bathrooms
Shielding state travel records from public disclosure
Defunding DEI programs at all state universities
Blocking Florida investments based on ESG factors
Voiding land agreements

I think he knows he is Governor off Florida.

[mmichaels1970]

Ron is done. Live with it.

Oh Ron’s been done for over two months. Continually spitting on people when they’re down is tedious.

[dforest]

Oh yes he did. He made some really nasty remarks about Trump. Those remarks disappeared quickly. He made those comments early on with the original hires he chose for his campaign. One of them was that turd that backstabbed O’Keefe at Project Veritas.

Ron backstabbed Trump and you can’t sugar coat that fact.

That said giving DeSantis this trophy wasn’t necessary. I know I wouldn’t have done that.