Governor Ron DeSantis reiterated his promise to hold people accountable for "COVID authoritarianism" if elected President. At a town hall event in Manchester, New Hampshire alongside Florida Surgeon General Joe Ladapo, Gov, DeSantis promised to conduct an overhaul of the CDC, NIH, and FDA.
"We cannot have elites in our society perform this poorly and this consistently without any accountability," DeSantis told the audience. "If there is no accountability for COVID authoritarianism, they are going to try to do this again. As your President, I will conduct a major overhaul of the CDC, NIH, and FDA, and bring a reckoning to Deep State bureaucrats like Anthony Fauci."
We cannot have elites in our society perform this poorly and consistently without any accountability.
If there is no accountability for COVID authoritarianism, they are going to try to do this again.
As your President, I will conduct a major overhaul of the CDC, NIH, FDA,… pic.twitter.com/7DDFzrAT2A
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) November 1, 2023
Taking the stage before DeSantis at the event which was organized by Pro-DeSantis PAC Never Back Down, Ladapo praised DeSantis for his courage of conviction.
“Can you imagine the courage it took to have all these MDs, and news experts saying that you can’t open schools, people have to stay home?" said Ladapo. "To stare that down, to read the data, to reach a conclusion, to know that conclusion is right, and all of these Harvard MDs and PhDs are wrong—that takes courage. And he embodies that. That is who he is.”
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo says @RonDeSantis’ COURAGE is why he supports him for president:
“He embodies that. That is who he is.” pic.twitter.com/RYpYZ8qlPp
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) November 1, 2023
DeSantis hired Ladapo as Florida Surgeon General in 2021 after removing a pro-Fauci Surgeon Genral. When former Surgeon General Scott Rivkees told reporters in April, 2020 that Floridians would have to observe social distancing and masking for possibly a year until a vaccine was available, DeSantis had him removed from the press conference. After that, Rivkees was practically invisible until he was replaced by Ladapo the following year.
4/13/2020: FL Surgeon General Rivkees said that we’ll need to socially distance as long as COVID is present, contradicting Gov. DeSantis’s plan to keep Florida open.
A DeSantis aide removed Rivkees from the room, and he never attended another briefing. pic.twitter.com/uABIVDSCPy https://t.co/A5OrbKWJs5
— Max (@MaxNordau) October 21, 2023
Ladapo, a Harvard Medical School graduate and former UCLA professor, led a different approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing personal freedom and opposition to vaccine mandates. Earlier this year, Ladapo has recommended against people under 65 taking the COVID-19 boosters and even questioned whether anyone should be taking them at all.
"What do we have now that the dust has settled? We have a vaccine, an mRna COVID vaccine that has a terrible safety profile. I mean that is the truth. The media, they work over time to rewrite reality, to make people believe that what is happening isn't actually happening," said Ladapo. "At this point in the pandemic, I'm not sure if anyone should be taking it, and that is the honest truth."
NO MORE COVID JABS!@FLSurgeonGen— "These vaccines have a terrible safety profile. I am not sure if anyone should be taking them."#FlPol #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/cGNDoN1dl0
— The Floridian (@Floridianpress) March 16, 2023
After Ladapo spoke, DeSantis spoke and fielded questions from the audience. DeSantis took aim at the World Health Organization, denouncing what he calls a "Lockdown Treaty" and saying he would never allow this to happen as President. DeSantis also reiterated his promise to hold people accountable for the damage done by Covid mandates.
"Enough is enough," DeSantis posted attached to a headline from the Daily Mail reading 'REVEALED: Anthony Fauci-run lab in MONTANA experimented with coronavirus strain shipped in from Wuhan a year BEFORE Covid pandemic began.'
"Anthony Fauci needs to be held accountable, and there must be a reckoning for what Big Pharma and the Medical Swamp did to our country during — and before — COVID. I am the only candidate who will do it."
Enough is enough.
Anthony Fauci needs to be held accountable, and there must be a reckoning for what Big Pharma and the Medical Swamp did to our country during — and before — COVID.
I am the only candidate who will do it. pic.twitter.com/n2MRwYibGv
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) November 1, 2023
DeSantis also took aim at the United Nations when a voter asked if the global organization should be defunded.
“Defund the UN. I mean, are you kidding me? What a farce!" exclaimed DeSantis. "I have a belief that we, the American people, are sovereign. We don’t give up sovereignty to international organizations, and that’s a long-held view... The UN is basically a hotbed for antisemitism, anti-Israel. It's some of the worst elements in the world that get together. They couldn't even bring themselves to condemn Hamas massacring all those Israeli civilians.”
Watch the full town hall here.
