Tag: DeSantis

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Politics

DeSantis indicators Florida election regulation whereas shutting out all media however Fox Information

DeSantis signs Florida election law while shutting out all media but Fox News

Governor Ron DeSantis speaks out on safety protocols and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic during a panel discussion with theme park leaders on Wednesday, August 26, 2020.

Joe Burbank | Orlando Sentinel | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a comprehensive election draft Thursday containing allegations that he will suppress voter turnout and is already facing a legal challenge.

DeSantis signed the SB 90 bill in a closed event that blocked all reporters and media coverage – except Fox News, who in a live interview applauded the Republican governor for his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

DeSantis said in a press release that the new voting rules are intended to increase voting security. “The Floridians can rest assured that our state will continue to lead the way in electoral integrity,” he said.

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However, civil and electoral groups promptly filed a complaint in federal court alleging the law violated the US Constitution, the Suffrage Act, and the Disabled Americans Act.

The NAACP, Disability Rights Florida, and Common Cause argue that the law imposes onerous identification requirements for postal voting and severely restricts dropboxing, among other things, provisions that negatively affect color voters and people with disabilities.

“I’m not a fan of Dropboxing at all, to be honest, but lawmakers wanted to keep it,” DeSantis said of Fox.

The governor, who signed the bill at a Hilton hotel near Palm Beach Airport, was flanked by supporters who clapped and cheered his responses during the interview.

In the meantime, local outlets reported that they had been banned from the event.

“The news media will not be allowed to participate in the signing of the controversial electoral law by Governor Ron DeSantis,” tweeted Steve Bousquet, columnist for Sun Sentinel in South Florida. “DeSantis spokeswoman Taryn Fenske says signing the bill is exclusive to Fox.”

CBS reporter Jay O’Brien said his outlet and others were also “not allowed into the event”.

DeSantis “signed a bill today that will affect ALL Floridians. And only some viewers were allowed to see it. That’s not normal,” O’Brien tweeted.

The DeSantis office did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on why journalists were not allowed into the signing room.

Florida is just the latest GOP-led state to push for new voting restrictions. Georgia passed a law in March that drew heavy criticism from Democrats, corporate leaders and sports leagues alike. The Texan legislature is due to vote on its own electoral law on Thursday.

Former President Donald Trump, who remains a de facto GOP leader despite his loss to President Joe Biden, has repeatedly expressed doubts about the integrity of the 2020 election before and after he left office. Trump has spread a number of baseless conspiracy theories about widespread electoral fraud, falsely claiming he beat Biden.

Senior US officials in the Trump administration said the election was safe and no evidence of widespread fraud was found that would undo Biden’s victory.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney from Wyoming urged her colleagues on Wednesday to reject Trump’s “personality cult”.

“Trump is trying to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work – confidence in the outcome of elections and the rule of law. No other American president has ever done this,” Cheney wrote in a Washington Post statement.

Growing numbers of House Republicans, as well as Trump and his allies, now say they no longer support Cheney as a leader.

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Health

Florida governor DeSantis suspends all remaining Covid restrictions

Florida governor DeSantis suspends all remaining Covid restrictions

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks wearing his face mask about the rise in coronavirus cases in the state during a press conference at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami on July 13, 2020.

Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Images

WASHINGTON – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed an executive order on Monday suspending immediately all pending local Covid-19 emergency orders and related public health restrictions.

“The fact is that we are no longer in a state of emergency,” DeSantis said during a press conference. He conceded that Florida was not finished with its fight against the coronavirus, but reiterated the nation’s decline in Covid-19 cases and deaths.

“I think that’s the evidence-based thing,” DeSantis said, adding that asking vaccinated people to continue wearing masks would undermine confidence in the coronavirus vaccine.

Private businesses may still require masks and enforce social distancing and other protective measures.

DeSantis signed a draft law on Monday that will bring the implementing regulation into effect on July 1st. The implementing regulation is designed to close the gap by then. The move, which is effectively ending all local restrictions related to pandemics, also bans vaccination certificates.

Florida has reported the third most common Covid-19 cases in the US with more than 2.2 million since the pandemic began and the fourth highest death toll with more than 35,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. However, the average number of new cases there has dropped more than 13% in the past week and dropped to 4,885 according to data on Sunday.

The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Last week, the Biden government announced a relaxation of federal health guidelines on wearing masks outdoors.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that fully vaccinated individuals can exercise outdoors and attend small gatherings without a face mask. The agency also recommends that fully vaccinated individuals wear a mask in crowded outdoor areas.

Categories
Politics

Might Ron DeSantis Be Trump’s G.O.P. Inheritor? He’s Actually Attempting.

Could Ron DeSantis Be Trump’s G.O.P. Heir? He’s Certainly Trying.

“We have too many people in this party who don’t fight back,” he told the gathering, according to the New York Times audio. “You can’t be afraid of the left, you can’t be afraid of the media, and you can’t be afraid of big tech.”

The governor has also taken steps to bolster his political standing in dealing with the pandemic, calling reporters to the State Capitol to blow it up Wednesday with a slideshow titled “FACTS VS. SMEARS ”- a report in CBS News’ 60 Minutes that contained insufficient evidence of a pay-to-play dynamic between Mr DeSantis’s government and the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines to white and wealthy Floridians.

His records of the virus are indeed mixed. By some standards, Florida has had average pandemic performance that is not over yet. However, his decisions helped ensure that hospitals were not overwhelmed with coronavirus patients. He emphasizes that he helped businesses survive and enabled children to go to school.

What his critics can’t forget, however, is how he defied some key public health guidelines. An article approving masks written under his name by his staff in mid-July was never approved for publication by the governor. The restrictions he is now dismissing as ineffective, such as local mask mandates and curfews that experts say actually worked, have, in most cases, been imposed by Democratic mayors he hardly speaks to.

However, given the way people admire or despise him, the nuances seem secondary.

He enrags passionate critics who believe he is acting wisely to look after his own interests. They fear that this approach has helped confuse public health messages, the preference for vaccines for the rich, and the deaths of some 34,000 Floridians. “DeathSantis” is what they call him. (Mr. DeSantis declined repeated interview requests for this article.)

But almost at every turn, Mr. DeSantis has used the criticism as an opportunity to become an avatar for national conservatives who enjoy the governor’s willingness to fight. He can score points that his potential Washington minority Republican rivals, including Rubio and Senator Rick Scott, his predecessor as governor, can’t.