DeSantis Declares Florida ‘Citadel of Freedom,’ Touts Opposition to CRT, Covid Restrictions in CPAC Speech

Florida Governor Ron Desantis declared his state a “citadel of freedom” primed to push back against the left’s embrace of critical race theory in K-12 curricula, illegal immigration, and Covid restrictions.

Speaking at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference, DeSantis noted that Florida tourism and transplant rates have been off the charts, especially during the pandemic when so many progressive states saw net population outflows. Some of Florida’s guests have included those Democratic politicians that regularly criticize the state’s leadership, he noted.

While the state’s record has been  a leader on all manner of culture war issues, he claimed, the main attraction for prospective residents and visitors was that “we refused to let this state descend into some kind of Faucian dystopia where people’s freedoms are curtailed and their livelihoods are destroyed.”

Florida rejected the “biomedical security state” and the temptation to defer to “health bureaucrats” during the apex of the Covid crisis, even when that approach was politically unpopular at first.

“My job is to stand up and protect the freedoms and the jobs of the people I represent and if that puts me in political jeopardy then so be it,” he said as the audience erupted into applause.

“I believe that if Florida had not led the way, this country could look like Canada and Australia,” he said noting the seemingly authoritarian downslide of those liberal societies over the last two years.

DeSantis spoke as President Biden was addressing the nation on the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. He did not mention the situation in Ukraine during his speech.

On illegal immigration, DeSantis said Florida is leading the way, suing the Biden administration for its catch-and-release policy, banning sanctuary cities in Florida, and preventing the Biden administration from depositing migrants on Florida territory.

He declared: “We are in the process of getting money from the legislature so that if Biden is dumping illegal aliens in Florida from the southern border, I’m rerouting them to Delaware. We’ll do some in DC and Hollywood as well.”

DeSantis says his strategy on crime has been the polar opposite of many progressive states championing “soft” policies and falling prey to “rogue prosecutors,” who’ve been accused of feeding into rising crime rates by decriminalizing certain offenses. Drawing a contrast with Democraticall-controlled cities and states, he touted the passage of anti-rioting legislation, which bars police defunding and slaps harsh penalties on those who loot or engage in violence.

“No, in Florida you’re not getting a slap on the wrist you’re getting the inside of a jail cell,” he said. “We are a law and order state in the state of Florida. We reject weak-on-crime policies. We reject Soros prosecutors.”

As for education, Florida has been a prominent supporter of school choice and fairness in women’s sports, DeSantis said. “We’re not going to let our young girls, women athletes have women athletes have opportunities denied to them because of ideology and political correctness,” he added.

And on critical race theory, the radical ideology that has galvanized a groundswell of parental opposition across the country, DeSantis reminded viewers that Florida was among the first Republican states to ban it from public schools.

“Because we will not spend taxpayer money to teach our kids to hate our country or to hate each other, we have banned CRT in K-12 education,” he noted.

In CRT’s stead, Florida has a robust civics education, DeSantis asserted.

“Yes we’re against CRT but what are we for? I’m for the Constitution, I’m for the Bill of Rights, we need to have our young people understand what that means,” he said.

While the demographic shifts during the pandemic had many pollsters wondering whether Democratic state evacuees relocating to Florida could harden the state into a blue bulwark, DeSantis cited statistics suggesting the opposite is true.

“Florida has never had more registered Republicans than Democrats in its history… There are now over 82,000 more registered Republicans in Florida than Democrats,” he said.