Ron DeSantis may be the Governor of Florida, but you aren’t mistaken if you think he's already campaigning for President of the United States. And, just like his predecessor, he's doing it on a Christian Nationalist platform.
As Donald Trump's influence has begun to flicker and dim ever so slightly, DeSantis's is on the rise. Many think he could edge out Trump in the Republican primary. With a manner and physique like Trump's, DeSantis has mastered holding up his freshly-signed bills in triumph — just like Trump — surrounded by those for whom the bills were written. DeSantis has also tapped into a great vein of mean-spiritedness that characterizes so much in today’s Republican Party.
In June 2021 DeSantis traveled to the Miami-Dade Jewish Community Center to sign HB529, a bill that mandates a moment of silence to make students "reflect and be able to pray as they see fit" in first-period classrooms throughout Florida. For all his legal training, DeSantis apparently doesn't think much of the Establishment Clause. "The idea that you can just push God out of every institution and be successful, I’m sorry, our Founding Fathers did not believe that," DeSantis said.
In November 2021 DeSantis signed a series of anti-vaccine mandate bills. In the town of Brandon, Florida, DeSantis signed one limiting COVID-19 vaccine requirements. As several town residents chanted "Let's go Brandon" (apparently code for "f**k you Biden"), DeSantis was asked "Why Brandon, Florida?" He replied with a smirk, "I think Brandon is a great American city."
On April 14th DeSantis signed a Mississippi-style abortion ban at a signing ceremony at Nación De Fe, an evangelical church in Kissimmee.
And on April 22nd DeSantis signed into law a bill that bans certain history curriculum, particularly if it makes white Republicans uncomfortable. DeSantis signed the bill at — not a public school — but the Mater Academy Charter School in Hialeah Gardens. Flanking him was Christopher Rufo, an enemy of Critical Race Theory who once fought the teaching of Evolution just as vehemently when working for the Discovery Institute.
Expect to see much, much more of this is coming down the pike in both the midterms and the 2024 Presidential race.
And one last thing — let’s stop calling it the “Republican Culture Wars” and start calling it by its proper name: “Christian Nationalism.”