DeSantis takes on Davos

DeSantis started the week by taking on ESG. He said, “We will be standing up for folks in Daytona and Destin, not following the elites in Davos.”

ESG is an acronym for Environmental, Social, and Governance. Billionaires plan to use ESG to silence all critics and opponents of the one-world government headquartered in Davos. They wish to make Nineteen-Eighty Four a reality with Soros, Bezos and the rest serving as Big Brother. Obey or be locked out of the economy in a cashless society.

Think not? A year ago, GoFundMe refused to give Canadian truckers protesting the government $5 million raised on their behalf. PayPal cut off an alternative fund-raiser via GiveSendGo.

Florida Politics reported, “Following up on last year’s ban of ESG investments on the state level, such as pension funds, the governor is rolling out this year’s enhancements.”

Those enhancements are:

• Prohibiting big banks, credit card companies, and money transmitters from discriminating against consumers for their religious, political, or social beliefs.

• Barring financial institutions from considering ESG Credit Scores in banking and lending practices to prevent Floridians from obtaining financial services like loans, lines of credit, and bank accounts.

• Permanently prohibiting State Board of Administration fund managers from considering ESG factors when investing the state’s money.

• Requiring SBA fund managers to only consider maximizing the return on investment on behalf of Florida’s retirees.

Ron DeSantis @GovRonDeSantis

ESG is a threat to the American economy and the individual freedoms that our country is built upon. It is dead on arrival in Florida.

Billionaire Mini Mike Bloomberg’s news service on Monday distributed a column that Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post ran.

It said, “What happens when Florida and Texas blacklist Wall Street’s largest municipal bond insurers for their support for environmental, social and governance practices? The answer is a hidden tax imposed on its residents for hundreds of millions of additional dollars.

“If socialism means government control over the production, distribution, and exchange of goods and services, then Florida and Texas fit that description. [Editor’s note: No, they don’t.] That’s not the case for California, whose commitment to ESG and free markets has allowed it to borrow cheaper than Florida and Texas despite having lower credit ratings. The overwhelming demand makes California debt the leader among the three largest U.S. states.”

California has a $22 billion deficit. Texas has a $33 billion surplus. Florida has a $22 billion surplus. Being the debt leader is not the win that Mini Mike and Bezos would have you believe. If it were, they would both work to go bankrupt.

DeSantis is bad news for Davos because of what DeSantis did to Disney.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre thought she owned DeSantis when she told reporters, “I don't know about you all, but I certainly would not get into a fight with Mickey Mouse. I don't think that would be the thing I would be doing.”

Why is she afraid of Mickey Mouse?

DeSantis just handed a big defeat to Disney — the House of Mouse — the world’s largest media conglomerate.

Orlando 6 reported, “The Florida House is ready to take up a proposal that would shift control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District and give it a new name.

“The House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday voted 13-3 to approve a bill (HB 9B) that would give Gov. Ron DeSantis authority to appoint the district’s five-member Board of Supervisors and change the name to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.”

The Reedy Creek district allowed Disney to build Disney World without having its hands tied by local governments that were run by politicians with their hands out. My understanding is Floridians have had reservations about the arrangement’s continuation for some time.

In voting against the measure, Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat, said, “I don’t think there’s any debate that the past structure is problematic. But from my interpretation, we’re taking one problematic swamp and we’re creating another swamp by allowing one person to appoint all five positions.”

Thus the issue is not — as the press would have you believe — a matter of principle but a matter of politics. Democrats want to get a crony or two on the new board.

Variety reported, “Disney Will Not Fight DeSantis Takeover of Special District in Orlando.”

Fighting Mickey Mouse helped DeSantis skate to a 19-point victory last November. But how will it fly nationally?

The New York Post reported, “DeSantis and the law’s backers said it protected young children from age-inappropriate subject matter, while Disney asserted that it was anti-LGBTQ.”

Can’t it be both? Who made LGBTQ the good guys? They bully Christian bakers and push drag queens on kids. Maybe Americans tire of hearing about their rights and want someone to stand up for the rights of all the people.

DeSantis pushes the New York Post between Iraq and a hard place as Sir Rupert Murdoch, who detests Trump, has a financial stake in the matter.

Murdoch shot up to No. 35 on the Forbes 400 when Disney bought most of Fox. I am pretty sure he hung on to enough shares in Disney to get a tummy ache whenever DeSantis speaks. Follow the money. Look for Murdoch to back Biden. Again.

Disney is so woke, it axed the Seven Dwarfs. Larry the Cable Guy’s joke about Snow Caucasian and 7 Handy Capable Little People is coming true.

By wrestling Disney and winning, DeSantis raises something we have not seen in presidential politics since Reagan roamed the land: a candidate who bases his campaign on a successful governorship.

DeSantis understands things that conservative pundits keep overlooking. There are levers in government. Minor appointments can have major impact. DeSantis uses them judiciously.

On November 4, 2022, Politico reported, “Two Florida medical boards on Friday gave final approval to rules that restrict children from receiving gender-affirming care to treat gender dysphoria, taking one more step before the state bans puberty blockers and surgery for minors.

“The Florida boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine each approved separate rulemaking focusing on barring some treatments for minors as a treatment for gender dysphoria. They instead placed a much heavier emphasis on treating children with behavioral therapy.”

While other states seek legislation to stop this butchery (and Florida may too) DeSantis used a play from the Democrat playbook to handle it. Trust the science, baby.

Then there was his battle with the College Board over the Marxism indoctrination included in its proposed Advanced Placement course in African American studies, which gives high school students a chance to earn college credits.

As originally designed, the course honored a poet who encouraged raping white girls and slashing the throats of their mothers. Florida school officials got that excised from the course.

While the rest of the media pretended this just happened overnight, the New York Times did some digging and found out that “Florida Officials Had Repeated Contact With College Board Over African American Studies.”

NYT said, “The discussions between the College Board and the state took place as right-wing activists across the country were increasingly taking aim at school lessons that emphasize race and racism in America. Governor DeSantis, who has presidential ambitions, has tried to cast himself as the voice of parents who are fed up with what he has called ‘woke indoctrination’ from progressive educators.”

Far from being an intrusion, the state school board worked with the College Board on creating a new course of study. That is how it is supposed to work. California liberals have done this for decades, which by default set education standards for the nation because other states were baby ducks. It is nice to see conservatives finally get in the game after losing two generations of schoolchildren.

DeSantis is basing his presidential campaign on the family. He wants to end the grooming of kindergarteners by LGBT chickenhawks. He wants to end the Marxist indoctrination of schools. He wants to end the butchery of transgendering. He is taking on the education industry and winning.

Journalists can oppose him. Biden’s butterfly can try to mock him. But they cannot break that bond DeSantis has created between him and families who do not want their children crashing and burning.

And Mickey Mouse is a worthy enemy. He is turning off a lot of people.

Stephen Green wrote, “Disney shares are up Thursday on news that the company is cutting costs and letting go of 7,000 employees. But the real news is that the formerly family-friend studio lost 2.4 million streaming subscribers — and has no plan to end the woke programming that drove them away.

“Including me.”

Green then launched into the woke LGBT indoctrination inside the House of Mouse. The mice are making Luke Skywalker queer. That’s the word the indoctrinators now use. Queer. What, they weren’t content with having C3P0 and R2D2?

The backlash against woke has Disney bringing back Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear for Toy Story 5. Kevin Sorbo as Skywalker would save that franchise.

For decades, the deep-state conservatives have preached that the right cannot win on social issues. DeSantis and Trump have shown that to be untrue. The latter by bringing down Roe v. Wade, the former by going after lefty indoctrination in schools.

Pamela Paul of NYT wrote, “we shouldn’t underestimate DeSantis. He may resemble Trump in his politics — but not in his intellect or resolve.

“Compare their respective backgrounds: Whereas Trump’s acceptance into the University of Pennsylvania, after an academic record notable only for its mediocrity, [Editor’s note: Pamela Paul is a graduate of Brown] was an egregious example of leveraging personal connections to get into a prestigious university, DeSantis, the son of a TV ratings box installer and a nurse, actually earned his way into the Ivy League.”

Nate Cohn, also of NYT, reported, “Ron DeSantis Is Not Scott Walker.

“His support among Republicans at this early stage of the primary cycle puts him in rare company.”

Walker was the governor who took on the teachers unions and other vested interests in Wisconsin. He looked to be a contender but he did not make it to the Iowa caucus.

Cohn wrote, “What sets Mr. DeSantis apart from Mr. Walker? To be blunt: how many people already say they want him to be president.”

Well it is early, except Cohn also wrote, “Since 1976, only six candidates who hadn’t previously run for president or vice president have managed to consistently attract more than half of Mr. DeSantis’s support in the early polls: Mr. Obama, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani in the 2008 cycle; George W. Bush in 2000; Ted Kennedy in 1980; and Mr. Reagan in 1976.”

3 of those 6 became president.

DeSantis runs a successful state that leads the nation in population growth. The taxes are low and the state treasury is full. He just proposed a $2 billion tax cut for Floridians. He shipped illegal aliens to Martha’s Vineyard and exposed the hypocrisy of sanctuary cities. Taking on Davos may answer the question of whether he isn’t just a RINO in a MAGA hat.

His governance is so good that people in Florida want him to wait until 2028 to run for president so they can get two full terms out of him.

That is not how presidential politics works. The presidential window is small. Likely, this is his only chance because four years from now there will be another fresh and proven candidate for conservatives.

Sarah Sanders.

NOTE: I am staying out of the Trump-DeSantis fight. My readers are split. What good would I be if I became an echo chamber for one or the other? Either man suits me. As a nonconformist, I will just play it straight and see what happens. I report, you decide and all that jazz.

Today I reported on DeSantis because I have already written three books about The Donald.

Now for today’s totally scientific poll.