With A ‘Ding’ And A ‘Poom,’ DeSantis Throws In The Towel For President
With a Ding! Ding! And a Pshing! Poom!, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken up residency in the dustbin of history of Republican presidential wannabes along with the forgettable Vivek Ramaswamy.
Ramaswamy dropped out of the race in January, leaving barely a ripple while DeSantis’s trail of racism, sexism and disinformation will forever stain his reputation.
DeSantis never stood a chance of out-trumping trump. Trump has remained just too weird. Take for example, trump’s plan to build an “iron dome” missile shield to protect the nation. Speaking at a campaign rally last seek, trump roared a sound-effect laden riff of “Ding! Ding! Ding! Pshing! Poom!” to illustrate his dome plans. He did not mention funding although demanding Hamas or North Korea or even Russia pay for it is definitely not impossible.
Apropos to his candidacy, DeSantis left his followers with the parting words of the historic British leader, Winston Churchill. The only glitch was that Churchill never said what DeSantis said he said.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts,” DeSantis tweeted in a video announcing he was surrendering from the race as he said he was quoting the wartime prime minister. The International Churchill Society, however, concluded that Churchill never said the words, based “on careful research in the canon of fifty million words by and about Churchill, including all of his books, articles, speeches and papers.”
Churchill did say, “No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it,” the organization said, adding that the prime minister also said, “success always demands a greater effort.”
DeSantis campaigned on the slogan “Never Back Down.” Upon backing down from the race, the ethically-challenged DeSantis, hoping for a cabinet post under a second trump administration, threw his support behind trump. That came after trump tromped DeSantis in the Iowa caucuses as trump got 51 percent of the votes, dwarfing DeSantis’s 21 percent.
DeSantis conveniently forgave or forgot the childish, boorish, schoolyard beating he endured from trump, who badmouthed DeSantis as “Meatball Ron” and “Ron Desanctimonious,” suggested that DeSantis was “grooming high school girls with alcohol,” questioned DeSantis’s manhood, attacked DeSantis’s wife, Casey, accusing her of attempting to “commit organized voter fraud,” and after reports of DeSantis’s eating pudding with his fingers, trump responded that DeSantis “loves sticking his fingers where they don’t belong, and we’re not just talking about pudding.” Trump even came down on DeSantis for being short.
Earlier in the race, DeSantis did not sit by idly while trump was tossing his adolescent bombs. He responded with a razor sharp retort that “we don’t need ‘any more presidents’ who’ve ‘lost the zip on their fastball’.” That cut trump to the quick, no doubt.
Last week, in the greatest toady tradition, DeSantis said he was endorsing trump because “It’s clear to me a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance.” Still, DeSantis said, “Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear.”
DeSantis’s record as governor and presidential candidate is a text book on political expediency, showing he would try anything to win. In the name of his “anti woke” crusade, DeSantis supported book banning, led the effort to keep students from learning anything about racism in the United States, fought institutional efforts to foster diversity and he vilified and championed efforts to deny rights to the LGBTQ community and particularly transgender people. He also was an outspoken opponent to immigration, at one point rounding up migrants in Texas and flying them to Massachusetts for the publicity. He led the strongest anti-abortion measures in the nation and even went toe to toe with Mickey Mouse and Disney.
But nothing was more damaging, cruel and Machiavellian than his posture on COVID-19. And in a parting shot, even though COVID-19 cases are on the upswing, DeSantis again last week urged that Floridians avoid getting the vaccination, because, said DeSantis, the vaccine causes COVID-19, which it does not.
During his run for the GOP nomination, DeSantis bragged that he kept schools and businesses open in the face of the pandemic and the “woke” insistence from Washington that people wear masks and stay home. His crusade led to an untold number of deaths as he minimized the dangers from COVID-19 and the vaccine, which has been shown to be highly effective.
In a recent speech in New Hampshire, before he ended his unlikely bid for the presidency, DeSantis defied the consensus of scientific studies and said that people who get a COVID-19 booster are more likely to contract the disease. In September 2023, DeSantis warned people under 65 against getting the latest booster. Both recommendations flew in the face of scientific studies around the world, including findings of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“They lied to us about the COVID shots, remember?” DeSantis said. “They said if you take a COVID shot, you will not get COVID. How true was that? Not at all! Now, every booster you take, you’re more likely to get COVID as a result of it.”
This was exactly the opposite of what DeSantis crowed on July 21, 2021, when he said “If you are vaccinated, fully vaccinated, the chance of you getting seriously ill or dying from COVID is effectively zero. If you look at the people that are being admitted to hospitals, over 95 percent of them are either not fully vaccinated or not vaccinated at all. And so these vaccines are saving lives. They are reducing mortality.”
DeSantis’s latest comments came after the latest misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine put out by DeSantis’s health commissioner and lapdog, Dr. Joseph Ladapo. Last month, Ladapo issued a notice urging Floridians to not be inoculated for COVID-19 because of the presence of DNA fragments in the vaccines. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration responded by calling Ladapo’s DNA claims “misleading” and “implausible,” while reminding people that the vaccines, which have been administered in the billions, have proven to be safe, effective and often life saving.
DeSantis’s COVID-19 policies were the low mark of his time as governor.
He claimed to have championed the Republican efforts to ignore pandemic restrictions as he ordered that schools and businesses remain open. However, the record shows that “before he became a vocal opponent of pandemic restrictions, DeSantis imposed significant restrictions on individuals, businesses and other entities in Florida in March 2020 and April 2020; some of them extended months later. He did then open up the state, with a gradual phased approach, but he did not keep it open from the start,” according to CNN fact checking.
Vox Media reported that while DeSantis’s loose restrictions were in place, COVID-19 infections in Florida exploded in June and July, 2020, as the daily average of new cases rose from less than 1,000 on June 1 to a peak of nearly 11,900 by the middle of July. About 180 Floridians were dying every day as the calendar turned from July to August. Despite the increasing dangers, DeSantis rejected calls to require masks in public places and to close schools and businesses.
With infections surging, on Sept. 25, 2020, DeSantis ordered that Florida lift all remaining capacity restrictions on businesses, while also prohibiting local governments from enforcing public health orders with fines, or restricting restaurants to less than 50 percent capacity. The CDC reported that during 2020, life expectancy dropped in Florida to 77.5 years, down from 79 years in 2019 “mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and increases in unintentional injuries,” with unintentional deaths being mostly attributable to drug overdoses.
Contrary to DeSantis’s dishonesty, COVID-19 nationwide hospitalizations are up nearly 17 percent in recent weeks while deaths from the disease also have been rising, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As of Jan. 4, the JN.1 variant is the dominant strain of the coronavirus circulating in the U.S., accounting for about 44 percent of COVID-19 cases in the country, up from 7.5 percent a few weeks before. The CDC said current vaccines, tests and treatments continue to protect against the JN.1 variant.
As of Jan. 6, 69 percent of the total U.S. population had the primary series of vaccinations, including 94 percent of people 65 and older. However, just 17 percent of the total population have received the bivalent booster, including only 43 percent of people 65 and older.
In Florida, only 12 percent of residents have had the bivalent booster including just 31 percent of people 65 and older , the most susceptible to the virus. Boosters have been given to only 2 percent of children 5 to 11 years old; 3 percent of those 12 to 17 years old; and 8 percent of the population 18 to 64.
As of Jan. 6, there were 7,660 people hospitalized nationwide because of COVID-19. That was a 21 percent increase over the period two weeks prior. Delaware led the nation in the number of daily hospital admissions with 7.6 per 100,000 residents, according to the CDC. Florida had 493 hospital admissions, a rate of 2.3 per 100,000 which was a 30 percent increase.
Each U.S. household can again order four, free, at-home COVID-19 tests from the website covidtests.gov. Shipping also is free. Those who didn’t order four tests when the program re-opened in the fall, are now eligible to get eight tests.
In October, the Food and Drug Administration authorized Novavax’s updated COVID-19 vaccine for people 12 and older. Similar to the revised vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, Novavax’s protein-based vaccine targets XBB.1.5, a more recent version of the coronavirus.
The CDC recommended that individuals 6 months and older get the new vaccine. Uninsured and underinsured individuals can receive vaccines for free under the CDC’s new bridge access program.
COVID-19 is spread by breathing in air of an infected person who is exhaling small droplets and particles that contain the virus. The droplets can be spread in the eyes, nose or mouth, likely through coughs or sneezes or if a person has virus particles on the hands and touches the eyes, nose or mouth.
COVID-19 can strike anyone but some people are more at risk for what experts call “severe disease” that may require hospitalization or intensive care. Older adults are more likely than younger, healthier people to experience serious illness from COVID-19. The vast majority of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have occurred among people 50 or older and the risk increases with age.
Adults of any age with an underlying medical condition are at increased risk for complications from a coronavirus infection. At risk factors include cancer; chronic kidney disease; chronic lung diseases, including COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), asthma (moderate to severe), interstitial lung disease, cystic fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension; dementia or other neurological conditions; diabetes (type 1 or type 2); Down syndrome; heart conditions such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathies or hypertension; HIV infection; immunocompromised state (weakened immune system); liver disease; mental health conditions, including depression and schizophrenia spectrum disorders; overweight and obesity (defined as a body mass index of 25 or greater); pregnancy; sickle cell disease or thalassemia; smoking (current or former); solid organ or blood stem cell transplant (includes bone marrow transplants); stroke or cerebrovascular disease, which affects blood flow to the brain; substance use disorders (such as alcohol, opioid or cocaine use disorder); and tuberculosis.
In addition to vaccinations, people can cut the risk of infection by wearing a high-quality face mask in public indoor settings, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces, and washing hands often.
The CDC reported that it is common to experience mild to moderate side effects after getting vaccinated, such as soreness in the arm, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, nausea, fever or chills. The side effects are temporary “normal signs that your body is building protection,” the CDC said.
A small number of vaccine recipients have experienced adverse reactions to the shots. Serious events after COVID-19 vaccinations “are rare but may occur.” Anaphylaxis, an allergic reaction, has occurred in a small share of the vaccinated population — around five cases per 1 million doses administered. People are asked wait about 15 minutes after a shot or booster to monitor for symptoms. Vaccine providers are equipped with medicines to quickly treat reactions.
Health officials are monitoring reports of myocarditis or pericarditis in some adolescents and younger adults after vaccination with the Pfizer , Moderna and Novavax vaccines. Most of the patients who received care responded well to medicine and felt better quickly, the CDC said. It’s also monitoring rare reports of Guillain-Barre syndrome, which was more commonly associated with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, which is no longer available.
According to the CDC, no vaccine is 100 percent effective, so there is a slight risk to get COVID-19 from vaccinations. This is known as a breakthrough infection. People with breakthrough infections, however, are less likely to get severely sick or die from COVID, multiple research studies show. Symptoms of COVID-19 commonly appear two to 14 days after exposure and have ranged from fever or chills, to a sore throat, fatigue and nausea.
Most people with COVID-19 can recover at home. However, a person should seek immediate medical attention if there is pain or pressure in the chest; disorientation or confusion; pale, gray or blue-colored skin, lips or nail beds; difficulty breathing; or an inability to wake or stay awake.
By 2023, DeSantis claimed he was the flag bearer of the anti-woke movement that defied the Democratic public health orders. By then more than 1.1 million Americans had died from COVID -19, including more than 87,000 Floridians.
DeSantis’s woke war led to “ Don’t Say Gay ” legislation that banned public schools from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity in early grades. DeSantis used his bully pulpit to demean trans people, signing a bill that limited drag performances, gender-affirming health care, school pronouns, and bathroom choice for transgender individuals.
He appealed to the lowest of his base by leading campaigns against diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, curriculum in Florida. He feuded with the College Board over the AP African American Studies curriculum. And most insidiously, he set up roadblocks to instructing students on how racism informed the nation and continues to be a major issue.