Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is now engaging in a war of words with California Governor Gavin Newsom (D). Gov. DeSantis's latest comments come after Governor Newsom ran an anti-DeSantis advertisement in Florida last week. In a message to supporters, DeSantis declared that Florida has answered the call to be the "freest" state in the country while trying to be the antithesis of California, a "woke tyranny."
Earlier this month, Governor Newsom released the ad against DeSantis, arguing that Governor DeSantis was limiting the rights of Floridians and that Floridians should move to California. In response to the advertisement, DeSantis commented that in California you won't see any Florida license plates, but in Florida, you'll see a lot of license plates.
Further criticizing Governor Newsom and California, DeSantis expressed that "over the past three years, we have been called to make choices and answer questions we did not expect." These questions concerned a wide range of topics including how kids are raised, how Americans were going to put food on the table, and how we were going to care for our communities. Furthermore, naming other topics including the relationship between the government and its citizens, DeSantis questioned, "In crisis, do we foster freedom? Or do we force our citizens down?"
In answering those questions, "you could not find two more starkly different examples than the free state of Florida and the woke tyranny of Gavin Newsom’s California."
DeSantis then listed the "record" of California, noting differences in comparison to Florida.
- They locked their kids out of public schools at the behest of the teachers’ unions.
- They forced small businesses to close with many never to re-open again.
- They hobbled law enforcement and allowed drugs and crime to destroy their cities.
Governor DeSantis added that "it’s only made worse by the disregard and disrespect shown by leaders like Gavin Newsom."
In contrast, "in Florida, we didn't bludgeon our people with government mandates; we lifted people up — protecting their jobs, their businesses, and their kids’ education."
