On the day that the Texas CPAC conference in Dallas, Texas drew to its conclusion, former president Donald Trump fired off a series of posts on his Truth Social account boasting about his straw poll popularity over Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) who appears to be the greatest threat to his plans to be the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, as well as a few other surveys taken at the conservative confab.
Of particular note, the former president seemed to be pleased that a survey taken by pollster McLaughlin & Associates showed that his Truth Social media platform came in second to Facebook when attendees at the conference were asked which "social media networks do you use."
RELATED: Trump rambles for 108 minutes in CPAC speech filled with 'unapologetic fascism': report
Without noting whether those polled were able to choose more than one platform, the Trump graphic (using a big red arrow) pointed out that 48 attendees chose his Truth Social, tying it with YouTube and trailing Facebook which garnered 59 votes.
You can see Trump's social media post below or at this link.
Appearing on MSNBC's "The Katie Phang Show" early Sunday morning, the Florida district attorney who was suspended from his job by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for pledging to not prosecute doctors or women over abortions described the horrific way he was forcibly removed from his office, saying it was akin to what you would see in Russia, China or North Korea.
Speaking with the host, Hillsborough County DA Andrew Warren said the whole affair reeked of living in an Orwellian Police state.
"Let's be clear, this isn't about anything I have done," he began. "This is about what I've said. The statements that I signed onto were value statements expressing my opposition to legislation that was being considered and passed that was violating people's constitutional rights."
"So I'd be punished not only for cases that have not come before me but for cases that don't even exist or not even on the ballot in the state of Florida," he continued. "This is Orwellian thought police, I'm being punished for not enforcing laws that are not even on the books yet."
Asked what happened on the day when the Republican governor went after him, Warren said he was forced from his office by an armed deputy who refused to let him talk to his staff.
"First of all, this happened so quickly," he recalled. "I mean, I was blindsided by this coup. An armed deputy came into my office and told me I had to leave. I was not even able to gather my things, wasn't able to talk to my staff, wasn't able to look at the order that this was based on."
"I was worried I was going to be put into handcuffs and dragged out of my own office," he added. "But let's be clear, we are going to fight back against this illegal order and fight hard. We will end up launching a thorough defense of our democracy that eviscerates this nonsensical and illegal order by the government."
MSNBC 08 07 2022 07 19 07 youtu.be
In the corner of the brightly lit, heavily bannered conference hall for this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, an empty jail cell sets the scene of a Make America Great Again performance art piece. A sign fixed to the exterior of the cell warns “#younext.” The would-be prisoner is an actor playing the part of a Jan. 6 insurrectionist.
The diorama painted a sympathetic portrait of the rioters arrested for their roles attacking the nation’s Capitol in protest of an election that saw the defeat of former President Donald Trump.
The display was emblematic of the overall attitude of the annual event for the nation’s most die-hard conservatives. There was virtually no acknowledgement by attendees of the conference of Trump’s role in instigating the attack, which has been the focus of testimony presented by the U.S. House committee investigating the insurrection in recents months. Trump, who closed out the event, was welcomed with open arms by Texans and those who traveled to the state to see him, as he has been teasing a 2024 presidential run.
“I’m over the moon, I’ve been trying to see him for years,” said Therese Boehnlein, who drove from Waco to see Trump.
Trump spent his time on stage handing out endorsements ahead of the November midterms, naming a number of Texans, including Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Irving, and his former White House doctor Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo.
Trump stuck to a familiar script and repeated the falsehood that the 2020 election was stolen from him, even as those claims have repeatedly been debunked by even his own former aides. He painted cities run by Democratic leadership as hellscapes awash in crime and lamented what he described as an open southern border with Mexico.
“We created the safest border in U.S. history by far, by far. And now it’s the worst border ever in history,” said Trump of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Trump also derided what he described as the indoctrination of students by liberals intent on destroying traditional family values, touching on battles in public schools over the content of library books, what sports teams transgender students are allowed to play on, and how teachers are allowed to talk about race and history.
Trump received some of his most thunderous applause of the night with his suggestion to “abolish the Department of Education.”
For Anna Zimmerman of Dallas, Trump’s focus on education resonated most with her.
“I liked his plans for the future,” Zimmerman told The Texas Tribune as attendees filed out of the conference room. “We’ve got to do something about our educational system. We won’t be successful if we teach them about transgenderism.”
Zimmerman said she expects and looks forward to an announcement from Trump that he’ll run again for president. “Everything is timing and he is a man of perfect timing,” Zimmerman said of Trump.
A straw poll conducted at the conference found that Trump is still a favorite among attendees. Trump received 69% of the vote to be the 2024 Republican nominee for president. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in second with 24%. Texas’s own Sen. Ted Cruz, who spoke at the conference on Friday, came in third with 2%.
Though he’d hoped to see Trump announce his 2024 run at the convention, Ariel Kohane said he expects Trump will announce after the midterm elections, so he can focus on endorsements. “Trump will have the greatest impact ever on the midterms, he selects winners,” said Kohane, who traveled from New York to see Trump.
Jen Loh Salinas of San Antonio, the vice president of Latinos United for America, said Trump — and his border wall — are the key to America's success. Born and raised in Laredo, Salinas said that border communities are scared of the violence that she attributed to migrants crossing the border.
She doesn’t just blame Biden. Salinas also criticized Gov. Greg Abbott’s handling of the border, she called his busing of migrants to D.C “human trafficking.” On Friday, Abbott announced Texas is now busing migrants from Texas to New York City.
With her teenage daughter next to her, Salinas pointed to schools as one of the major reasons she said Latino voters were moving to the right. Salinas took her daughter out of public school because she thinks they are “sexualizing children” — a common refrain used by attendees and speakers describing public school concerns at the convention, alluding to the discussion of gender identity. She said the cost of private school is worth what she sees as the best education for her daughter.
Elizabeth Gomez-Crocker also took her children out of public school, citing among other things, Critical Race Theory, the graduate school ideology that structural racism exists in America. Working as a substitute teacher, Gomez-Crocker picked up a second job driving for Uber to pay for the cost of the private, religious school in Arlington.
“What’s wrong is right, what’s right is wrong,” Gomez-Crocker said. She’s concerned by the cultural changes she observed in schools.
To fix that she would like to see more religion in schools. Instead of supporting more school choice, which would divert money from public education to schools parents choose, Gomez-Crocker said, “Put God back in school instead of money following the child.”
The final day of the convention at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas featured a host of GOP leaders loyal to Trump. Some of the Texas officials who spoke earlier in the conference included Cruz, Abbott, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, but the thousands that gathered saved much of their energy and enthusiasm for the party’s de facto leader.
Earlier in the convention, state Democratic leaders criticized the GOP’s welcoming of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who spoke at the convention on Thursday, a week after his racist remarks on European immigration. Those comments reportedly resulted in the resignation of one of Orbán’s longtime advisers.
MAGA-branded freedom was for sale up and down the halls of the political conference in the form of alternative cell phone providers, conservative children’s books — including one written by U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston — and stilettos bejeweled with Trump’s name. And this year’s CPAC didn’t make attempts to memorialize the GOP before Trump. One booth sold a framed portrait of Ronald Reagan, but there was little reference to other former Republican presidents George W. Bush or George H. Bush, even with the conference taking place in their home state. One attendee bristled at the former president’s name, “Bush is part of the establishment.”
Between speakers lamenting Biden’s presidency and China’s influence on America, attendees on Sunday laughed at a brief satirical news segment. Jesse Kelly played the part of news anchor of the fake media outlet “Socialist News Network,” while making lewd jokes about Vice President Kamala Harris and downplaying the number of people who died from COVID-19.
“This virus has almost killed as many people as Hillary Clinton,” said Kelly. Over 1 million people in the United States have died from COVID-19.
Donald Trump could be reclaiming his grip on the Republican Party, according a straw poll conducted at CPAC in Dallas.
"Trump, who’s repeatedly teased making another presidential run in 2024 to try and return to the White House, captured 69.1% of ballots cast in the anonymous online straw poll, according to results announced by CPAC on Saturday," Fox News reported Saturday. "The support for the former president, who remains the most popular and influential politician in the Republican Party and continues to play a kingmaker's role in GOP primaries, is up from his 59% showing in the anonymous online straw poll at the CPAC gathering in Orlando, Florida in February. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in second on the 2024 presidential nomination question, at 23.7%, down from his 28% showing at CPAC in Orlando five months ago."
If Trump does not run, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis leads the pack at 64%. Donald Trump, Jr. comes in at 28% despite having no relevant experience and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz comes in at 6%.
Mike Pence had the most embarrassing showing in the straw poll.
"Pence at 0.3% support for 2024," Isaac Arnsdorf of The Washington Post reported." And if Trump isn’t on the ballot, Pence is still at 0.3% in CPAC straw poll."
Jim McLaughlin, who conducted the straw poll, claims it is "the ultimate barometer of what’s going on in the conservative movement."
The poll showed Donald Trump with a 99% approval rating, which journalist Steven Monacelli described as a "Banana-Republic approval rating."
ALSO IN THE NEWS: MAGA ‘Lions Not Sheep’ bro busted for putting bogus ‘Made in USA’ tags on Chinese-made apparel
Donald Trump will be giving the keynote address late Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas and, according to a report from NPR, some attendees are not thrilled at the idea that he may be considering a third presidential run.
As the report notes, some conservatives at the conservative conference admit they are ready to move on even though they appreciate what the former president had done, with NPR's Ashley Lopez writing, "Donald Trump's ongoing legal and political issues might be too much baggage for some conservative voters."
One attendee who has a booth selling " Stop the Steal" merchandise expressed skepticism at yet another Trump campaign, telling NPR, "He's too disruptive."
According to George Breen of Pennsylvania, "I think he tapped into something in the American psyche that hadn't been tapped into by either party, but he's a problematic character. He's a difficult person... there's too much petty stuff."
Nebraskan Cassiopeia Fletcher agreed, explaining, "There are some days where I think that would be great and other days where I think it is time to move on," before admitting that she likes the idea of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) as Trump's successor.
"He has all of the bulldog of Donald Trump," she explained. "Without the offensiveness."
NPR's Lopez adds, "Polling shows that some Republican voters are open to voting for someone other than Trump in 2024. According to a New York Times/Siena College poll from July, about half of Republicans polled would back another candidate. However, Trump by far has the most support of any single candidate among these voters at 49%. Florida Gov. Ron Desantis was second, but garnered only about half of Trump's level of support at 25%."
You can read more here.
He announced the appointment during a news conference Friday in West Palm Beach as Francis stood beside him accompanied by her mother, husband, and two small children. Francis would be the only Black person appointed to the court under DeSantis and the second Black woman to serve.
Peggy Quince, the first Black female justice, left the bench around the time DeSantis took office in 2019.
The governor named Francis for a high court vacancy in 2020 but the sitting justices refused to seat her because she hadn’t been a member of the Florida Bar for the constitutionally mandated 10 years at the time.
“We were happy to appoint, or try to appoint, Judge Francis two years ago in the state of Florida. But then, seeing how she’s progressed since then, she’s gotten even better. And she was really good on everything, you know?” the governor said.
“She understands what the proper role of a judge is in America’s constitutional system. And I also think, being an immigrant, she probably has more appreciation for our constitutional system than many people who can trace their lineage back hundreds of years.”
Francis described her judicial philosophy.
“The Florida Supreme Court protects people’s liberty. And inherent in the way that we do that in the judiciary is respecting and observing the limited role that judges play in our constitutional system of government. Alexander Hamilton explained what that meant. That we exercise neither force nor will but merely judgement. We apply the law as written,” she said.
“This timeless principle in a civil society not only promotes uniformity, predictability; it’s essential to preserving liberty. It restrains arbitrariness; it restrains abuses of power.”
The governor’s press office announced the event only two hours before it began at the Richard & Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum in West Palm Beach. Unusually for these events, it opened with a prayer. DeSantis and Francis left without taking questions.
That meant no one could ask about reporting by the Florida Bulldog, an investigative news website, that Francis on her Supreme Court application failed to report that she’d been the subject of ethics complaints, as she was required to do. The publication reported that as many as five had been lodged alleging she’d been unfair to litigants.
The announcement came one day after DeSantis suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren because he’d co-signed two letters with other prosecutors nationally promising to exercise discretion in charging crimes under state laws limiting abortion rights and access to transgender care.
Specifically, as the abortion-related letter put it, “prosecutors have a responsibility to refrain from using limited criminal legal system resources to criminalize personal medical decisions.” DeSantis took that as a pledge to ignore legitimately enacted laws.
On Friday, he compared what he considers activist courts to “rogue prosecutors” around the country who “basically say they are not going to enforce certain laws that they don’t like — that they put their personal conception of, quote, social justice over what the law and their constitutional oath require.”
What derailed Francis’ train to the Supreme Court two years ago was a lawsuit filed by state Rep. Geraldine Thompson, a Black Democrat from Orange County, whose complaint pointed out that Francis was a few months shy of the 10-year Bar membership requirement.
On Friday, DeSantis noted that Francis was late to enter the legal profession, having operated businesses including a trucking company before enrolling in the for-profit Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, which has stopped accepting students and is set to close next year.
Since then, she’s served as an attorney at the Florida First District Court of Appeal and as a judge on the Palm Beach Circuit Court and Miami-Dade county court.
“She’s had other careers before she got into law, and so I actually thought that was a good thing — to take someone that came from a different background rather than someone that was born into, like, a legal family,” DeSantis said.
On his earlier attempted appointment of a justice who didn’t quite qualify, “It was a disputed point of law” testing whether the governor could announce the appointment and let it take effect later, DeSantis said.
“The Florida Supreme Court disagreed and said once you’re selected off the list it’s that instant where you have to have had 10 years, therefore the appointment was defective,” he said.
“I thought it was disappointing. It was disappointing for Judge Francis to have to go through all that and then have this lawsuit come at the 11th hour just because someone didn’t want her on the court. I mean, it was all politics; it wasn’t anything that was based in principle.
“She handled it well, and so we have this other appointment,” he continued.
Thompson wondered in a written statement whether Francis would provide an independent voice on the court.
“Members of the Florida Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that Renatha Francis was not qualified to serve on the state’s highest court based on the constitution. They ruled that 10 means 10. These were the governor’s appointees who exercised their independence to rule based on the law,” Thompson said.
“Will Judge Francis be so beholden to the governor that she will fail to exercise her independence when issues such as the governor’s racially and politically gerrymandered redistricting maps, open gun carry, abortion, and other issues come before the Court? That’s the concern now,” she said.
William Large, president of the Florida Justice Reform Institute, which lobbies to limit access to the courts, praised the appointment in a written statement.
“The governor’s appointment of Renatha Francis as the 92nd Justice continues his mission of appointing justices with a proven record of recognizing the court’s proper role as the interpreter of our laws, not the author,” Large said.
“Justice Francis is also only the second African-American woman appointed to the Florida Supreme Court, and we further applaud Gov. DeSantis for his continuing commitment to a Court that can draw on a rich diversity of life experience.”
Next is for the governor’s office to submit an official commission to the court, court spokesman Paul Flemming said via email.
“As soon as the commission is confirmed Judge Francis can then have the oath of office administered and she will be a Justice. The timing for all of this is to be determined,” Flemming said.
“A ceremonial investiture is just that — it is a public recognition of the official acts that have already taken place. The time and manner of those events are to be determined as well,” he added.
DeSantis insisted that he considered each of the six finalists sent by the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission. All had ties to the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy, which grooms attorneys for places in the conservative legal movement; DeSantis, also tied to the group, turns to it for appointees to the nominating commissions that vet potential judges, too.
“I said, you know what, she got it two years ago. But two years have elapsed and I’ve gotta go and do a thorough review of everybody, because there may have been people two years ago that have progressed a lot. And so, it wasn’t anything that she was entitled to just because she got it two years ago based on the facts and circumstances at the time,” DeSantis said.
“We ran all the nominees through a very good process. They had to talk about the law, their philosophy, and all these different things. I said, I’m going to do it from scratch. No preconceived notions and we’re going to go with the person that we think has done the best job.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Diane Rado for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
According to a report from Politico, the future direction of the Republican Party may be playing out in Massachusetts, of all places, as a Donald Trump-endorsed candidate faces off with a mainstream conservative to be the party's nominee for governor in a race the eventual winner will likely lose.
As Politico's Lisa Kashinsky wrote, Attorney General Maura Healey will likely be the Democratic nominee and will face either Geoff Diehl -- a failed U.S. Senate candidate currently being advised by Trump-linked Corey Lewandowski -- or moderate Republican businessman Chris Doughty.
That battle for supremacy before the Sept. 6 primary has Republican 2024 presidential hopefuls coming to the state in what is being called a "proxy war" over the future of Trumpism in this election and the next one in 2024.
According to the report, on one side, there is Gov. Chris Sununu (R) of neighboring New Hampshire who is trying to move the party away from the Trump years and is crossing state lines to stump for Doughty, and then there is South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) who will be making appearances for Diehl in an effort to boost her own national profile with an eye on 2024.
READ MORE: ‘What a dope!’ Morning Joe unloads on Ron DeSantis for punishing prosecutor for stating his beliefs
As Kashinsky wrote, "this is as much a battle for the future of the Republican Party as it is one for attention heading into 2024," before adding, "While Sununu gets plenty of play in his home state, fly-in politicians can get exposure in New Hampshire just by showing up in Massachusetts. The state is a media and money gateway to the first-in-the-nation primary state, offering would-be presidential hopefuls the chance to get on television screens in voter-rich southern New Hampshire and connect with deep-pocketed Massachusetts donors without the direct scrutiny that comes with stepping foot in the Granite State."
According to GOP campaign strategist Patrick Griffin, despite the fact that both candidates have little chance of beating the eventual Democratic candidate in November, the primary battle is also a referendum on Trumpism.
“Kristi Noem’s got plans. Chris Sununu’s got plans,” Griffin explained. “This is all about standing up for where the party’s going and trying to direct it in a way or lead it in a way where we can win more elections, not less.”
Strategist Colin Reed agreed, "There’s no sense in investing in lost causes, but if you can use it to make a mark or increase your own name ID in a critical part of the country, as they say: there’s no interest like self-interest.”
You can read more here.
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough dumped on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for suspending an elected prosecutor who vowed not to enforce laws against abortion.
The Republican governor removed Hillsborough County state attorney Andrew Warren from office after he signed letters pledging he would not enforce laws prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors or laws limiting abortion, and the "Morning Joe" host blasted him as an authoritarian.
"This is crazy stuff," Scarborough said. "Two things can be true at the same time. You can be attacked by rational people in the media, [and] at the same time, you can do something that's very bad for the state of Florida, very bad for American democracy and, ultimately -- hold on, wait for it, because you aren't getting it -- I keep warning you, Republicans, let me tell you, as well, it can be bad for American democracy and bad for your own future political careers. This is the sort of -- I really want to say the word, I won't say it -- this is the sort of stuff that always circles back around and gets you in voting booths. Good luck with that."
Warren described his removal as a "blatant violation" of democratic elections, and Scarborough said DeSantis was endangering his own political ambitions.
BACKGROUND: Suspended Florida prosecutor hits back at Ron DeSantis and reveals suspected motive
"What a dope," Scarborough said. "Ron DeSantis is such a dope. He didn't even wait for any action to take place, and he is doing the same thing that these freaks and insurrectionists and weirdos are doing, that are putting the lives of 10-year-old girls who have been raped at risk, who are saying that uncle that raped 14-year-old girls, that is a perfect example of why they have to force the 14-year-old to have the baby. They're playing -- I used to say for the 33 percent, now, we're down to, like, 20 percent."
"Ron DeSantis is doing all of of this crazy stuff in a state that, not so long ago, was a swing state, and he is doing it hurting Florida, going to war with Mickey Mouse, going to war with the Tampa Bay Rays, going to war with the voters of the state of Florida, nullifying their votes for a guy who has been elected twice now, all to appeal to, like, 20 percent of Americans who may be voting in Republican primaries in presidential elections," he added. "It's crazy."
Watch the video below or at this link.
08 05 2022 07 22 13 www.youtube.com
The ex-wife of InfoWars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones expected he was having a moment of sudden comprehension after he was found guilty of defamation after lying about the Sandy Hook Elementary school massacre.
On Thursday, the jury ordered Jones to pay $4 million in compensatory damages and on Friday will discuss the amount of punitive damages.
His ex-wife, Kelly Jones, told Inside Edition, "I know that he's hidden money."
"I think he's got a lot of buckets under a lot of shelves," she said.
She also discussed the fact that her ex-husband's lawyer inadvertently sent the entire contents of his cell phone to the plaintiff's attorneys. It could have significant implications for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The attorney, Mark Bankston said he "intends to cooperate" with efforts to obtain the evidence by the Department of Justice and House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
ALSO IN THE NEWS: Suspended Florida prosecutor hits back at Ron DeSantis and reveals suspected motive
Kelly Jones is also seeking information in her ongoing child custody battle. She has also reached out to the House select committee, offering "relevant insider info."
"I think we definitely saw him getting caught committing aggravated perjury," she said. "I think you saw somebody really having a what we call in Texas a 'Come to Jesus moment,' or whatever you want to call it and I think that the cat's out of the bag, and a lot of people are gonna be interested in that information."
Ex-Wife of Alex Jones Says ‘He Lives in His Own Universe’ www.youtube.com
On Thursday, Florida Politics reported that Andrew Warren, the Democratic state prosecutor of Hillsborough County, Florida, is hitting back at Gov. Ron DeSantis after he moved to suspend him from office.
“People need to understand this isn’t the Governor trying to suspend the one elected official," said Warren. “This is the Governor trying to overthrow democracy here in Hillsborough County.”
Florida is unusual among states in that county prosecutors are elected directly, but that the governor has the authority to suspend them from office. DeSantis took this action against Warren, a progressive prosecutor who was elected on criminal justice reform, because of his refusal to enforce the state's 15-week abortion ban and prohibition on gender-affirming care for children. In his place, DeSantis has installed Susan Lopez, a right-wing lawyer he previously appointed as Hillsborough County Judge.
“We’re protecting people’s rights; we have fought so hard for public safety and fairness and justice," Warren said. "If the Governor thinks he can do a better job, then he should run for state attorney — not President. The Governor wants to do his sideshow with his cronies. I’m the one who’s upholding the law.” He added that regarding abortion and gender-affirming care prosecutions, "None of those cases have been brought to us. We’re not anticipating those cases being brought to us," and urged any concerned to ask the county sheriff if any such cases are even being investigated.
“I think the Governor is trying to make a good impression on the Iowa caucus voters,” Warren added.
This comes as DeSantis, thought to be a potential presidential rival to former President Donald Trump in 2024, wages furious culture wars on a number of fronts, even playing chicken with a federal requirement that schools protect LGBTQ students' rights as a condition of receiving meal funding.
NOW WATCH: Tucker Carlson levels disturbing attack against VP Kamala Harris
Watch Tucker Carlson levels disturbing attack against VP Kamala Harris www.youtube.com
Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis announced Thursday morning he is suspending the elected state attorney of Hillsborough County, Democrat Andrew Warren. DeSantis claims he is taking this extraordinary action in response to Warren's refusal to prosecute certain crimes, including those related to performing abortions and alleged "sex changes" for transgender minors, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Standing in front of a backdrop of Hillsborough County Sheriffs, the Florida governor made his announcement, alleging Warren has “put himself publicly above the law.”
"We are suspending Soros-backed 13th circuit state attorney Andrew Warren for neglecting his duties as he pledges not to uphold the laws of the state," DeSantis' office said in a statement, according to Fox News. The "Soros-backed" remark refers to George Soros, the billionaire businessman and philanthropist, whose name is often invoked by the right in antisemitic attacks.
"The constitution of Florida has vested the veto power in the governor, not in state attorneys," DeSantis said in his public announcement. "We are not going to allow this pathogen of ignoring the law get a foothold in the state of Florida."
Warren, who has not yet responded publicly, is a former federal prosecutor. Earlier this year Florida Politics named him a "social justice warrior" and "No. 15 on the list of Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Politicians."
"Prepare for the liberal media meltdown of the year," DeSantis' press secretary Christina Pushaw dramatically announced Wednesday night, saying the governor would deliver a "MAJOR announcement" Thursday morning.
After the governors announcement Pushaw continued her line of attack:
"Progressive prosecutors backed by Soros have refused to enforce laws across the country. They treat criminals with deference & victims with contempt. This dereliction of duty is why crime is surging. But @GovRonDeSantis won’t stand for this. He just suspended the one in Florida."
Kyle Lamb, a member of the communications team in the Florida Executive Office of the Governor tweeted: "Today, @GovRonDeSantis announces we are suspending Soros-backed 13th circuit state attorney Andrew Warren for neglecting his duties as he pledges not to uphold the laws of the state. It is dangerous to Floridians that state attorneys are neglecting criminal prosecution."
Multiple potential candidates for the GOP's 2024 presidential primary race support former President Donald Trump's plot to make it easier to purge civil servants deemed disloyal to their prospective administrations, Axios revealed Wednesday.
"These impartial civil servants... deserve protection from political interference from a president who would place preserving his power above following the law."
Noah Bookbinder, president and CEO of the government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), responded with alarm to the new reporting.
"It is distressing that leading contenders from one of our major political parties—not just Donald Trump—are reportedly committed to undercutting nonpolitical government employees, another step to significantly weaken our system of checks and balances," he said.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) confirmed they "support using a measure like Schedule F to reform the federal bureaucracy," according to Axios' Alayna Treene.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis along with Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) "wouldn't speak to Schedule F specifically, but they showed openness to the approach," Treene noted.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) declined to comment.
Shortly before losing the 2020 presidential election, Trump signed an executive order to create a new Schedule F category of federal employees who are easier to fire.
Though President Joe Biden rescinded the order, if Trump runs again in two years and wins, he is expected to revive the plan to reclassify thousands of workers, which has been condemned as "authoritarianism 101" and "a fascist takeover of our government."
Donald Moynihan, a professor at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, recently wrote for Slate that "Schedule F would burn down the civil service system. It would be a government of the lawless leading the incompetent."
Fears about a Republican administration taking such action have grown since U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) last week unveiled the Public Service Reform Act, which he said would "empower federal agencies to swiftly address misconduct and remove underperforming or ill-willed employees."
As Common Dreams reported, Don Kettl, professor emeritus and former dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, said of Roy's move that "this is obviously a huge and major change, an effort to gear up a major assault on the federal employment system."
Kettl also warned that such efforts "aren't just Trump necessarily, and if Republicans take control of Congress following the midterms, this may very well go from idea to specific action."
Democrats—and a few Republicans—in Congress have responded with efforts to protect federal workers.
As U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) wrote in late July for The Washington Post:
Our federal workforce consists of roughly two million federal employees hired based on their acumen, and they work each day for the American people—serving in myriad capacities to improve this nation and America's posture abroad. These impartial civil servants research vaccines, help families in the wake of hurricanes and deadly fires, and inspect our food[s] to ensure they are free of disease. They deserve protection from political interference from a president who would place preserving his power above following the law.
Congress must assert itself and ensure no future president can repeat what Trump has already tried to do once, and now is reportedly planning to do again. For nearly two years, I have been trying to warn congressional leadership that protecting our 139-year, merit-based, civil service is fundamental to protecting our democracy.
That is why I have introduced the Preventing a Patronage System Act. The bipartisan legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), was passed by the House this month but has yet to be taken up by the Senate.
Though Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Mark Warner (D-Va.) introduced the legislation in the upper chamber on Tuesday, it would require GOP support to reach Biden's desk.
Gov. Ron DeSantis lashed out at big blue-state governors who’ve declared emergencies over monkeypox, accusing them and the news media of attempting to stoke fear as a way of controlling people.
The governor was asked about the matter during a news conference he called in Brevard County to announce an opioid treatment initiative.
“Any of these politicians you see out there trying to scare you about this — do not listen to their nonsense,” he said.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo speaking about vaccine concerns, along with Gov. Ron DeSantis. October 21, 2021. Credit: Screenshot, Florida Channel
“I am so sick of politicians — and we saw this with COVID — trying to sow fear into the population. We’ve had people calling — mothers worried about whether their kids could catch it at school.
“Anything we deal with from a public health perspective, particularly with Joe at the helm, you know, we are not doing fear. They’re going to do facts. And we are not going to go out and try to rile people up and try to act like people can’t live their lives as they’ve been normally doing, you know, because of something,” DeSantis said.
“Joe” was Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general and head of the state Department of Health.
Governors in California, Illinois, and New York have already declared emergencies to ease coordination between agencies and get the outbreak under control.
As of Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 25,391 monkeypox cases in 83 countries, with 6,326 cases within the United States.
In Florida, the state Department of Health shows a caseload of 525 statewide, including 237 cases in Broward County, 135 in Miami-Dade, 32 in Orange, 30 in Palm Beach, 22 in Pinellas, and 21 in Hillsborough counties.
Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses a news conference in Brevard County on Aug. 3, 2022. Source: Screenshot/Facebook
Brevard County, where DeSantis held the news conference, has one monkeypox case. Brevard is in Central Florida, on the Atlantic side of the peninsula.
The disease is caused by a virus related to smallpox that’s transmitted by skin-to-skin contact or exposure to contaminated clothing, bedclothes, towels, or other materials. It causes fever and a rash that can feature painful pustules. The disease can be lethal.
Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat seeking her party’s nomination to oppose DeSantis’ reelection in November, released a letter to him on Tuesday in which she argued an emergency declaration would allow “a strong, statewide emergency response that coordinates and leverages our county health departments [and] will help Floridians access vaccines and other resources to protect themselves and others from the spread of monkeypox.”
DeSantis was having none of it.
“You see some of these states declaring states of emergency. They’re going to abuse those emergency powers to restrict your freedom — I guarantee you, that’s what will happen. We saw it so much with COVID,” he said.
“Who knows what’ll be in the future with whatever? I mean, who knows what they’re cooking up in Wuhan? You just never know, right?” He referred to the place in China where the coronavirus is believed to have emerged.
“So, it ends up coming, ya gotta deal with this rationally,” he continued.
DeSantis argued that fear of COVID deterred people from seeking hospital treatment for potentially deadly ailments like heart disease and stroke, or parents from sending their children to school.
“The fear, it killed people,” DeSantis said.
Ladapo backed up the governor.
“It’s just kind of remarkable to see some of the headlines — the headlines that very clearly are trying to make you afraid of monkeypox or fill-in-the-blank. You know, because if you’re not afraid of this there will be something else after that and something else after that,” he said.
“These people are determined to make you afraid and do whatever it is they want you to do. And, um, you know, I hope that more and more people choose not to do that,” he said.
Ladapo did acknowlege that the official caseload short-shrifts the number of infections, saying, “only heaven knows how many actual cases there have been.” Some “98 percent, maybe 99 percent are in men” with “a handful” in women, he added, but no fatalities have been reported in Florida.
The state has received about 24,000 doses of vaccines and distributed about 8,500, he said.
“That being said, you should know that there’s actually very little data on this vaccine,” Ladapo said. “Believe it or not, there’s actually less data on this than on COVID vaccines at the time they were” released.
His department is working with the federal government to acquire more vaccine and on communicating information about where to get the vaccine if people want it.
Toward the end of his remarks, DeSantis brought up what’s become a familiar complaint for him: that the Biden administration uses its power to punish Floridians because of the president’s political differences with the governor.
He harkened back to January of this year, when the federal government restricted distribution of the antiviral drug Regeneron after concluding it was of little use against the then-emerging omicron strain of coronavirus.
He recalled criticism he said he drew for emphasizing treatment ahead of vaccination in defiance of federal guidelines.
“If I say the sky is blue, they’re going to attack me for that, so I get that,” the governor said.
“But it was just such the zeal in which they were trying to say that this was not something that was good. And the clinical data on it was solid,” he insisted.
“They rationed it out of Florida partially because they don’t like me. That’s just the reality of why they did that and why they treated Florida they way they’ve treated [it]. So, do you want your access to medical care to be circumscribed by some political grudge that somebody, you know, up in D.C. many have against one of our states or local communities? That’s not the way to go.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Diane Rado for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
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