Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is a rising star in the Republican Party. He is already pitched as a frontrunner to the 2024 presidential election in case Donald Trump does not run. In numerous polls, DeSantis came 2nd place as the Republican choice for presidential candidate, next to Trump.
One of his traits that capture the hearts of the Republican electorate is his willingness to call out the far left – the woke – and his criticism of unfair media coverage. He is without a doubt a counter puncher. He is so much like Trump in that regard, even if a little less controversial.
In December of 2021, DeSantis introduced the Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act. The shortened version of this legislation is Stop W.O.K.E – a clear wordplay that would catch the ire of the far left. According to the Governor’s office, this legislation would give “businesses, employees, children and families tools to fight back against woke indoctrination.” Essentially, this law allows for private lawsuits to be filed against any indoctrination in the workplace or school. For instance, parents can sue the school for teaching Critical Race Theory to their kids without their knowledge or consent.
This is not the first time DeSantis is taking action against woke indoctrination – he has already banned Critical Race Theory and the New York Times’ 1619 project from schools in Florida.
Governor DeSantis also called out corporate wokeness when speaking at the Common Sense Society Conference and Gala in January. He said, “This wokeness, it’s a religion of the left, and it’s infecting a lot of institutions: big Corporate America, big tech, the bureaucracy, of course academia. It is wokeness, a form of cultural Marxism . . . This wokeness is dangerous, and we’ve got to defeat it on all fronts.”
DeSantis is right – wokeness has permeated the corporations in America. There are good examples, such as Coca Cola asking its workers to be “less white” as part of an anti-racism course and Goodyear’s diversity training slide that shows BLM and other left wing activism as acceptable on the job while things like Blue Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, Maga, etc, are unacceptable.
DeSantis also slammed some provisions in President Biden’s so called bipartisan infrastructure bill, saying, “There’s trees they’re putting in. They’re saying that highways are racially discriminatory. I don’t know how a road can be that. This is the woke-ification of federal policy, when you see this stuff.”
During a speech given to the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas in November 2021, DeSantis also said, “Let’s just be clear. The woke are anti-Semitic. They are anti-Israel. We know that.” That statement isn’t without merit. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, who are considered woke members of Congress, never hesitate to criticize Israel, even when it is defending against unprovoked attacks by Hamas.
There are many in the Republican Party that hope Ron DeSantis would run for president in 2024. That would only be feasible if Trump, the current favorite, decides not to run. Trump has given all indications that he would run while DeSantis has given none. It remains to be seen what the future holds for the charismatic Governor of Florida.