XPost: fl.politics, alt.politics.republicans, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.guns   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   The answer is too easy. It is, of course, Florida.   
      
   There is a reason why I was an avid supporter of Governor DeSantis in the   
   primaries, and why I resented the MAGA attacks aimed at him when he was   
   running against President Trump.   
      
   Ron DeSantis is awesome, and even if you think Donald Trump is awesomer,   
   that is no reason to trash genuinely good people. The competition didn't   
   hurt Trump, and I was actually repelled by many of the puerile attacks   
   against him and Casey.   
      
   That's all water under the bridge, over the dam, or whatever metaphor you   
   choose to say that the controversy is in the rear-view mirror. Now is the   
   time to look forward, and to reward conservatives who are kicking butt   
   outside the Beltway. DeSantis was a good soldier during the election, and   
   I hope he gets rewarded for it.   
      
      
   Florida used to be the ultimate swing state. Large, pretty evenly divided,   
   and filled with people who couldn't enthusiastically embrace either party.   
   It elected people like Charlie Crist, who was an oily snake-in-the-grass,   
   and nobody expected a dramatic short-term shift in the politics of the   
   state.   
      
   DeSantis barely squeaked through in the 2018 gubernatorial election,   
   winning by about 30,000 out of 8.2 million votes. If he were a normal   
   politician who triangulated to stay safe, he would have been one of the   
   more vulnerable incumbents seeking reelection.   
      
      
   But Ron DeSantis is anything but a normal political animal who   
   triangulates to stay safe. He is smart, decisive, and isn't moved by   
   political winds. Not only that, he is remarkably competent, which seems to   
   be a rarity these days. Or perhaps ever, in politics.   
      
   During COVID, as governor after governor chose to "follow the [fake]   
   science," DeSantis reached out to actual scientists and epidemiologists to   
   get good advice. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya was one of his key advisors, for   
   instance, and as a result of his relentless curiosity and commitment to   
   doing what is right instead of what the establishment told him was the   
   "safe" thing to do, he crushed it while others utterly failed.   
      
   Time and again, DeSantis broke the mold, reshaping a broken electoral   
   system that couldn't get results in a reasonable time and making it one of   
   the most efficient in the country. When disasters strike, he gets results.   
      
   He has created, in his own and others' words, the "Free State of Florida,"   
   and people are flocking there. As much as I would like to credit ideology,   
   it is DeSantis' sheer competence that gives him the room to pursue   
   conservative ends. He takes care of business first, then fights the   
   ideological battles using the political capital he stores up by running   
   the state well.   
      
   The results are incredible, and I would move to Florida if it weren't so   
   darn humid.   
      
   DeSantis should do something about that.   
      
   https://hotair.com/david-strom/2025/05/07/guess-which-state-is-1-in-   
   higher-ed-and-economy-n3802492   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)