Ron DeSantis Shows Republicans How to Govern in the New Trumpian Reality

Strong leadership on the Right should always be praised. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has led the way in not buying into the Wuhan virus hysteria throughout the past year by largely keeping his state open while other states have remained closed.

In addition, DeSantis has stirred the pot by passing sensible deregulation measures such as occupational license reform, passing legislation to confront Big Tech, and curbing illegal immigration by signing E-Verify into law.

Unlike his Republican colleagues, DeSantis is willing to buck conventional wisdom that has dominated the party for decades. He recognizes that the Republican Party’s base is changing, and in turn, the leadership must respond to the voters’ new preferences which tend to be focused on limiting immigration, fighting against PC culture, and exercising restraint in foreign policy affairs.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, DeSantis criticized the “failed Republican establishment of yesteryear.”

“Now, Florida’s leading on the issues that matter to conservatives, we don’t spout hollow rhetoric, we take decisive action,” DeSantis declared at CPAC’s opening day. “And what’s true in Florida it’s true for conservatives across the nation. We cannot, we will not go back to the days of the failed Republican establishment of yesteryear.”

Conservatives of all factions should let DeSantis’s rhetoric and actions sink in. This is the new Republican Party and there’s no going back to the Bushism and Reaganism of yore. The quicker they recognize this, the better, because we are in a new era where polarization is the order of the day. This will require bold leadership to confront the many challenges that lie ahead.