Dems’ incompetence lets Gov. DeSantis continue to drive a wedge between us
The day after Democrats’ humiliating loss in the Virginia gubernatorial election, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis referred to Joe Biden as “Brandon” at an official event — a nod to a vulgar insult of the president popular among conservatives.
Perhaps there’s nothing more emblematic of the defeat of Biden’s agenda on Tuesday than one of his enemies embracing the “Let’s go, Brandon” chant — code for “(expletive) Biden” — that has spread on right-wing media.
How much do Tuesday’s elections say about what’s going to happen in Florida’s gubernatorial race in November 2022? Political pundits can sometimes draw too many conclusions, and 12 months in politics is an eternity. But if 2021 offers any insight, it’s that DeSantis’ strategy might be working. Democrats and the Biden administration, which has gone to war with DeSantis over Florida’s ban on school mask mandates, could be getting the strategy to undermine Florida’s young governor all wrong.
Republicans such as DeSantis are smelling blood after Democrats got trounced in Virginia and barely pulled off a gubernatorial win in solid-blue New Jersey. Florida should be prepared for more posturing from our governor, cultural battles and attacks on local government and private business control over COVID-19 restrictions, such as vaccine mandates.
CULTURE WARS
Democrats only help DeSantis when they look incapable of governing, when Biden’s approval ratings continue to sink and the party for months has haggled over a spending bill that contains reforms popular with Americans, such as childcare. Of course, that can change if Congress get its act together — on Friday, the U.S. House passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill, but didn’t muster enough votes to also approve the $1.75 trillion social spending package. But things aren’t so simple.
DeSantis has been on the
ELECTION INTEGRITY?
Re the Nov. 5 story “Republican primary winner is ex-felon who never applied for the right to hold office:” Jason Mariner should not be allowed to hold office. It might set a bad example for future ex-felons who want to run for public office, as he did not fill out the required paper work.
Nevertheless, ex-felons should be allowed to vote and run for public office.
– Sue Browning,
Miami
GUTSY LAWYERS
In 1985, the late majorcrimes prosecutor David Waksman called me about a job opening for a senior assistant attorney general for criminal appeals in the Miami office.
When I expressed some reluctance to apply, Waksman said, with characteristic bluntness, “Do what they tell you; they won’t have you doing anything illegal or immoral.”
He was right. ‘ Throughout my time at that office (under attor
Opinion content from syndicated sources may be trimmed from the original length to fit available space. neys general from both parties), I was confident of my freedom to practice law to the highest legal and moral standards.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s lawyers are right to give her frank advice, and she should use it to burst Gov. DeSantis’ soap-bubble fantasies.
– Nancy Cayford Wear,
Coral Gables
NOT IN THE MIDDLE
I was amused by the Nov. 4 letter “Middle class tax.”
The writer worried about potential taxes on a Coral Gables house he described as “worth more than $920,000.”
He went on to complain about stocks and bonds that would be taxed at between 15% and 20%. He also informed us that President Biden was being “sneaky” with his tax plan and railed against taxing the middle class in this manner.
If you are the owner of a home that’s worth just under a cool million, and you spend your time
NANCY A. MEYER
forefront of the cultural issues that played out in this year’s elections elsewhere.
He signed a law banning transgender female athletes from sports on the first day of LGBTQ Pride Month. That Florida hasn’t had any problems with trans athletes wasn’t the point of the ban. It was to tell parents that their daughters wouldn’t be forced by the politically correct left to play against taller, stronger boys — the unfortunate picture many Republicans paint of trans women and girls.
DeSantis also banned the teaching of critical race theory in public schools. The move didn’t make changes to school curriculum because the theory is taught mainly in law school, not in K-12. But it galvanized white parents who feel they lack control over what their children learn about race in school.
We have rolled our eyes at DeSantis. But, guess what? Waging cultural wars is working for Republicans.
Virginia Republican Glenn Youngkin won the governor’s race in part by making race and schools a focal point of his campaign. An infamous campaign ad featured a white mom and conservative activist who says her son, a high-school senior, had nightmares after reading Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.” She wants the Nobel Prize winner’s book about slavery banned from her school system for its “explicit material.”
NOT ALL ABOUT TRUMP
What Democrats see as racebaiting — and it is — translates to many voters as parental choice. Youngkin’s Democratic opponent Terry McAuliffe choosing stocks and bonds, you’re not middle class.
Are you at the same hyperwealth level as Elon Musk or Bill Gates?
No, of course not.
But are you middle class?
No, of course not.
– F. Robbins, Miami Beach
THE SCAPEGOATS
Re the Nov. 5 letter “Misplaced blame:” The writer took umbrage with a previous letter writer who blamed recent Democrat election losses on ‘woke’ and progressives. The latter wants to blame the likes of Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for these pubic rejections of far left agendas. That is scapegoating and such thinking will not help Democrat’s progressive agendas come next November.
I welcome more of the same in progressive defeats next year and thereafter.
– Michael G. Merhige,
Kendall
MONICA R. RICHARDSON END DRILLING
World leaders gathered in Glasgow, Scotland this past week, promising to address the growing threat of climate change, according the Nov. 3 online story “Leaders vow to protect forests, plug methane leaks at COP26”.
President Biden was there, and many hailed his announcement of a new plan to limit methane emissions as a sign of American leadership. Unfortunately, his plans fall well short of the urgent actions needed to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
Rather than simply limiting methane emissions while allowing fossilfuel production to continue, he could use his legal authority to end oil and gas drilling on federal lands altogether. This would fulfill a major campaign promise and do more to reduce emissions than any other action he has taken so far.
The climate crisis isn’t hypothetical anymore, especially in Miami, where
NANCY ANCRUM
helped Republicans drive that point home with suburban parents when he professed, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
His words were played back in ads across the state.
That Democrats have lost ground among Asian, Black and Latino communities is evidence that the GOP isn’t winning elections in diverse states by simply appealing to white resentment. The old “Donald Trump is a racist” mantra is getting old, no matter how accurate it might be. In fact, while Youngkin distanced himself from Trump, Florida Republicans are fully on the Trump train after he improved his winning margin in the state thanks to a stronger performance with Miami-Dade County Hispanic voters.
What message besides being anti-Trump and DeSantis do Democrats have? We have been asking that question since their devastating losses in Florida and Miami-Dade County in 2020.
Biden won largely because he sold himself as a deal maker who understands how to work with Congress.
If his party can pull off that spending package, which also includes a deal to lower the price of prescription drugs for seniors, the tides might change in his favor.
Still, in Florida he will face the formidable political machine DeSantis has built and which got an injection of enthusiasm and credibility in the recent gubernatorial elections.
‘‘ ONE THING NOBODY EVER TALKS ABOUT BEING AN ADULT IS HOW MUCH TIME YOU DEBATE YOURSELF ON KEEPING A CARDBOARD BOX BECAUSE IT’S, LIKE, A REALLY, REALLY GOOD BOX.
rising seas and stronger storms are threatening our lives and livelihoods.
The president should use every tool at his disposal to protect Miami and other vulnerable communities from the worst impacts of climate change. The most important thing he can do to show American leadership is to keep fossil fuels in the ground.
– Andrea Preston, Plantation
VACCINE SUIT
Re the Nov. 5 story “DeSantis: Florida will sue to stop vaccine mandate:” The governor is totally wrong. The Interstate Commerce Act gives the federal government the right to make all kinds of requirements, including the health of medical and all other workers. DeSantis is very aware of this. He’s just filing this lawsuit for political advantage.
Of course, states have rights, but states have to defer to the federal government’s powers. There is much case law on this.
– Gary P. Simon,
Pinecrest
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