'They've gone too far': Columnist laments there's no reset for damage DeSantis has done to Florida

There’s no reset for the damage Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has done to his home state, a Miami columnist wrote Thursday.

While he’s able, with much fanfare, to announce he’s going back to the drawing board after a disastrous start to his campaign to be the GOP’s presidential nominee, the policies DeSantis has championed and the laws he’s passed in the four years of his governorship can’t be so easily erased, wrote Reed Hoffman for the Miami Herald.

“His polling numbers have sagged — they are worse than they were before he entered the GOP primary,” he wrote. “His campaign has burned through cash and recently laid off 38 employees. National media that, after last year’s midterms crowned DeSantis Trump’s heir apparent, discuss his lack of charisma these days.

“DeSantis has hit the reset button, shifting his focus to economic issues. …He’s still rallying against what he describes as 'woke,' but he’s poised to show his populist and sympathetic side.”

But the switch will change nothing for the people living in Florida, he wrote.

Read more: Florida is hurting as it becomes 'where empathy, decency and kindness go to die': columnist

“Even if DeSantis magically transforms into Ronald Reagan, the damage he’s done has been enshrined into every facet of Florida law and policy,” Hoffman wrote.

As examples, Hoffman described the crackdown on mentioning LGBTQ issues or race in the state’s classrooms, the use of “indoctrination” teaching materials created by the conservative PragerU that teaches slavery was “no big deal,” and the effort to halt prescribed medical care for transgender kids.

“The Legislature in the past two years has been hard at work to make sure DeSantis had enough culture-war victories to brag about,” Hoffman wrote.

But, he added, “By shifting his strategy DeSantis has recognized cultural grievances only go so far. In Florida, unfortunately, they’ve gone too far.”