Media Coming After DeSantis Over Mask Mandates

Hyping Florida as the new epicenter of the Delta variant, the media is trying to destroy Gov. Ron DeSantis. If their freak-out over Trump proved anything, it’s that it won’t work.

Summary

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is under siege from the White House and media after vowing to stop any mask mandates for schools.

• The Florida Board of Education is offering private school vouchers (also called “school choice”) for students and parents who feel pressured into or ordered to wear a mask during school. 
• A group of Central Florida parents is suing DeSantis over his decision not to enforce a statewide mask mandate for elementary school kids. 
• Earlier this year, Florida passed legislation banning vaccine passports, a move the cruise line industry, important to Florida, called a political move and sued to overturn in court. 
• The Hill reported on CNN’s Jim Acosta pretending to let his guard down (as if we didn’t already know he’s basically a press intern for the Democratic National Committee) by saying politicians should “know better” on how to fight the coronavirus and “Instead of the delta variant, why not call it the DeSantis variant?”*

• Newsweek highlighted several school districts implementing mandates “in defiance” of DeSantis, quoting a district superintendent as saying he’s listened to “both sides of this debate” but “must make decisions that safeguard the health and well0being of our students and staff.” 
• MSNBC has thrown the first snowball in what will inevitably become an avalanche of “DeSantis is worse than Trump” think pieces leading up to the 2024 presidential election, arguing DeSantis’ Ivy League pedigree and opportunity for longer political life make him a “clear and present danger.” No, I am not making this up.** 
• CNN posted an op-ed from former Obama official David Axelrod who said when most people “might see tragic, unnecessary loss”, DeSantis “sees something else: opportunity.”

• Fox News reported on another mandate Gov. DeSantis is fighting against: mandatory vaccines for hospital workers, highlighting DeSantis’ comments telling President Biden he is “standing in the way [of federal intervention] in order to protect Florida residents.” 
• OANN reported on the public back and forth between DeSantis and Biden, in which Biden pretended to forget DeSantis’ name in an attempt to minimize his credibility, while DeSantis shot back with a crack about Biden’s memory and mental faculties.*** 
• RedState called local education officials “educrats” for rebelling against Florida’s school mask mandate ban, calling some of the local meetings instituting mask mandates Soviet Politburo sessions.

Author’s Take

*As egregious as Chris Cuomo’s participation in his brother’s defense against sexual harassment allegations is, one could reasonably find some sympathy in it as a family matter, even if he should have pulled himself off the air. CNN’s promotion of Jim Acosta is just political hackery pretending to be news. Having lost his Trump bogeyman, he’s turning to DeSantis, who is willfully defiant of the intelligentsia.

**MSNBC’s op-ed might as well be an in-kind contribution to the DeSantis 2024 presidential campaign. I am reminded of what some conservative Trump-skeptic voters said last year: I don’t like Trump at all. But the media is worse, and because I can’t vote out the media, I am voting for Trump.

***DeSantis is a legitimately smart guy. His education bona fides are unquestioned. So, seeing this kind of juvenile name-calling in public is unbecoming. He needs to stop.

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© Dallas Gerber, 2021