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Ron DeSantis

DeSantis’ Disney chief must resign one of his posts: ethics lawyer

Glen Gilzean cannot continue to serve as Florida’s ethics commission chairman and work as the administrator of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Disney World oversight district, according to a legal opinion released Thursday. State law does not allow public employees to serve on the government watchdog panel, Steven Zuilkowski, the ethics commission’s general counsel, wrote in the analysis. Gilzean, chairman of the ethics commission, was hired in May to lead the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. He earns an annual salary of $400,000 as the district’s administrator. “[I]t appears that your position ...

DeSantis expects ‘knives out’ in first GOP debate as supporters look for reassurance

MIAMI — When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes the stage next Wednesday at the first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee, he’ll face perhaps the biggest test yet of his campaign’s efforts to re-establish his position as the strongest alternative to former President Donald Trump. Even as the governor’s campaign has worked to lower expectations, some of DeSantis’ donors and allies are looking at the debate as a potentially make-or-break moment for his candidacy. An adept performance, they say, could quickly quell doubts about his presidential ambitions and reassure supporters that the primary r...

Vivek Ramaswamy campaign slams ‘pudding fingers’ Ron DeSantis as Republican debate clash looms

It’s Ramaswamy vs.“pudding fingers” Ron. The campaign of upstart Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy mocked DeSantis Thursday after a group backing the Florida governor advised him to “take a sledgehammer” to Ramaswamy in next week’s first GOP debate. A spokesman for Ramaswamy, who is closing in on second place DeSantis in the contest, obliquely referred to a viral ad that claimed DeSantis once used his fingers to eat pudding. “If DeSantis struggles to use a spoon, I can’t imagine he is particularly agile with a sledgehammer,” the Ramaswamy aide said. The aide also derided DeSant...

DeSantis allies urge him to defend Trump at Republican debate

By Gram Slattery WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis should defend former President Donald Trump at the first Republican primary debate on Wednesday and go on the attack against campaign rival Vivek Ramaswamy, the main outside spending group supporting his candidacy wrote in a series of memos. The memos, commissioned by pro-DeSantis group Never Back Down, were posted on the website of Axiom Strategies, a major political consultancy, over the last several days. Their existence was first reported by The New York Times. Outside spending groups, known as super PACs, are gene...

Arkansas schools defy Sarah Huckabee Sanders to offer African-American Studies: report

Several Arkansas school districts will continue to offer coursework in African-American studies despite pressure from state officials to drop the classes.

Five out of six Arkansas high schools that had planned to offer Advanced Placement African American Studies now say they'll go ahead with the class targeted by the state Department of Education at the direction of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and the sixth is still considering it, reported Arkansas Times.

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Floridians have to sign up again if they want to vote by mail in next election

Nearly 3 million Floridians voted by mail in 2022, but all of their ballot requests were wiped out at the beginning of this year because of a new law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. That has left county elections offices scrambling to tell residents they must request mail-in ballots again to cast their ballots in the same way for the next election. DeSantis’ and other Republicans’ heightened targeting of mail-in voting marks an almost total 180-degree turn by the Florida GOP, who once spearheaded the idea and had benefited from it for two decades. But now, opposition to voting by mail is rising o...

DeSantis’ tactical blunder has sunk his battle with Disney: ex-GOP lawmaker

A tactical error helped fuel blowback against Ron DeSantis over the Florida governor’s battle with Disney, a former Republican state lawmaker said.

DeSantis has been stuck in a brutal legal fight with the Happiest Place on Earth since March last year when the company spoke out against Florida's "Don't Say Gay" education bill. DeSantis hit back, effectively taking over a special zone that oversees Disney – Reedy Creek Improvement District that's now known as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

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'Real man of genius': DeSantis roasted after his super PAC's 'defend Trump' debate strategy leaks

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is purportedly trying to defeat former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, but a super PAC working on his behalf thinks he should take on a strategy of defending the man he wants to beat.

The New York Times has unearthed a leaked strategy memo posted on the website of Axiom Strategies, a company owned by the chief strategist of the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down Super PAC, which recommends that DeSantis "defend Donald Trump" when he gets attacked by other candidates during the upcoming Republican presidential primary debate.

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This GOP senator is facing intense MAGA pressure to endorse Trump

As Donald Trump faces four criminal indictments, some Republicans are holding off on making an endorsement in the 2024 GOP presidential primary. But the former president's most ardent loyalists are pressuring Republicans to endorse him. Far-right conspiracy theorist and 2022 Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake has even gone so far as to say that her party should cancel its presidential primary altogether and nominate Trump immediately.

The Daily Beast cites Sen. Katie Britt (R-Alabama) as an example of a Republican who is facing intense pressure from MAGA Republicans to endorse Trump. Britt was appointed to the Republican National Committee Advisory Council's board by RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel, and sources told the Beast that Britt was asked to remain neutral in the 2024 primary.

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Morning Joe decries Trump-inspired 'fascist-style violence against government officials'

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough called out the "fascist-style violence" that Donald Trump and other Republicans have been inspiring against government officials.

A Texas woman has been arrested for making racist threats to kill the federal judge presiding over Trump's election interference case in Washington, D.C., and the "Morning Joe" host blamed the former president and his GOP allies for a growing trend of political violence.

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DeSantis’ Disney chief seeks legal opinion on potential ethics conflict

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida ethics chairman Glen Gilzean is seeking a legal opinion on whether he can continue on the government watchdog panel while also working as the administrator of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Disney World oversight district. Gilzean asked the ethics commission’s lawyers to provide an analysis by the close of business Wednesday, according to an email obtained through a public records request. The opinion was not available by Wednesday evening. State law says ethics commissioners cannot hold “public employment.” Gilzean was hired in May to lead the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Dis...

'Chaos' reigns at Florida college that DeSantis filled with far-right cronies: report

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has turned the New College of Florida, a public liberal arts college in Sarasota, into a social experiment, staffing the Board of Trustees with hard-right allies with the goal of erasing what he calls "woke" ideology. The result, according to the website Inside Higher Ed, has been utter "chaos" and a campus that can barely function.

New College's problems have been trickling out for months, with the pro-DeSantis trustees interfering with the merit-based tenure system, and major bleeding of staff. The school has been left without an American History professor after pushing out a DeSantis critic and more than a third of the faculty has either been purged or left.

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'Not fit to be president:' Morning Joe dumps on 'disgusting' GOP rivals for excusing Trump crimes

Two of Donald Trump's challengers were given an opportunity to condemn the criminal conduct described in a Georgia indictment, and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough belittled them as unworthy for the office they're seeking.

Both Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott were asked to comment on the Fulton County racketeering charges, and both GOP presidential primary challengers claimed the prosecution amounted to the "weaponization" of politics, which the "Morning Joe" host deemed to be disqualifying.

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