Breaking overnight — Former President Donald Trump appeared to snap at Gov. Ron DeSantis in a new interview with One America News Network, where he bashed unnamed politicians who won’t say whether they’ve gotten a booster shot. “I watched a couple of politicians be interviewed and one of the questions was, ‘Did you get the booster?’” Trump told the outlet. “Because they had the vaccine, and they’re answering like — in other words, the answer is ‘yes,’ but they don’t want to say it, because they’re gutless. You gotta say it, whether you had it or not, say it.”
DeSantis — who has gone from being a full-time vaccine promoter to scarcely mentioning them — was asked by Fox News back in December if he had gotten a booster and he sidestepped the question. His staff told Florida Playbook last week that they did not know the answer because it was a “private medical” decision. There’s been anticipation that eventually Trump and DeSantis would have a falling out and even those in DeSantis World had been bracing for it. Stay tuned.
At the Capitol — The 2022 session of the Florida Legislature got off and running, kicked off by an aggressive State of the State speech from DeSantis that had a mix of bragging about Covid-19 response — “We were right and they were wrong” — and enough darts at the federal government that it was yet another reminder of why the governor is viewed as a potential presidential contender. There was even a Jesus reference slipped in where DeSantis said that “Florida has stood strong as the rock of freedom, and upon this rock we must build Florida’s future.”
Stick to the script — DeSantis’ speech did not contain any new policy initiatives, but instead emphasized top budget items such as his proposal for a $1 billion gas tax holiday and bonuses for teachers and first responders, and legislation that he has already called for including a law dealing with critical race theory. He said he wanted lawmakers to “strengthen” Second Amendment protections but did not mention any specifics.
Double plus good — One other notable part is where DeSantis talked about election laws, including his call to spend millions of dollars on a new elections police unit. “It is Orwellian doublespeak to invoke the concept of ‘voting rights’ to mean ballot harvesting, prohibiting voter ID and taxpayer funding of elections. Those are political concepts that erode the integrity of our elections,” DeSantis said.
Breaking it down — Lawmakers enacted a clampdown on ballot harvesting last year and voter ID has long been required in the state. As for “taxpayer funding of elections,” Florida has a matching funds program that allows candidates for statewide office get public money for their campaigns. DeSantis in 2018 received $3.22 million from the program. His campaign did respond to a question on Tuesday about whether this means the governor will forgo the money this time around. FWIW, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who got more than $158,000 in her first run, said she has not decided whether she will accept the money either.
