OXON HILL, Md.—American conservatives must accept no substitute for real political victories and must not refrain from wielding real power to achieve those victories, according to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The failure of many Republicans to effectively wield power to achieve conservative goals cannot be allowed to continue, DeSantis said at an April 21 leadership summit in Maryland hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
“In Florida, we deliver big victories every single day,” DeSantis said. “We reject the culture of losing that has infected the Republican Party in recent years. ... We know there is no substitute for victory.”
Widely considered a likely presidential contender, DeSantis’s speech focused on all the hallmarks expected of such an aspirant.
To that end, DeSantis outlined a long list of political victories achieved by his administration in Florida, which he promoted as a blueprint not for the Republican Party only, but for conservative values themselves.
“We’ve really become the beating heart of the conservative movement in America,” DeSantis said.
‘Winning’
DeSantis’s speech repeatedly focused on the qualities a leader needed to run a successful administration and continue, in his words, “winning.”DeSantis said that he had developed experience building a cadre of people in his administration “who share the vision” of a conservative future, and lamented the prevalence of Republicans he considered to be “potted plants,” who sat in offices without asserting real power in order to achieve lasting political victories.
Possibly alluding to a national-level campaign, DeSantis underscored his track record of using his executive power in Florida to “pursue a conservative agenda,” and derided the social media-centric political campaigns prevalent to many other politicians, including former President Donald Trump.
“Politics isn’t about entertainment. It isn’t about building the brand on social media,” DeSantis said.
“Politics is about producing results.”
Florida, he said, offered a blueprint for the conservative movement in how to effectively wield power while suppressing the malignant influences that eroded other administrations from the inside.
GOP Must Wield the ‘Fire of Liberty’
Variously describing Florida as a “refuge of sanity” and “citadel of freedom” during the COVID-19 pandemic, DeSantis laid out critical victories his administration had achieved, hinting at the core issues that a national-level campaign would aim to tackle.Key among those battles, he said, was combating the “cultural Marxism” of “Woke” ideology and telling the “truth about communist regimes throughout history.”
On that point, DeSantis noted that he had successfully removed critical race theory and transgender ideology from most Florida public schools and championed the largest expansion of school choice in the nation.
“We have eliminated critical race theory in our schools. ... We have embraced a new emphasis on American civics. We need to teach our children what it means to be Americans,” DeSantis said.
The governor also rattled off his conservative bona fides, including the passage of a “heartbeat bill” banning abortions if a fetal heartbeat could be detected, bills to enshrine the constitutional right to carry firearms, a Florida law to revoke the medical license of doctors who perform transgender surgeries on minors, and a plan to tackle illegal immigration, including through building a wall.
“It’s a pretty big contrast in terms of productivity between Florida and what you see in D.C.,” DeSantis said.
“We’re proud of the stands that we’ve taken. ... But more than that, [victory] is an opportunity to do even more.”
To that end, DeSantis said that “the left is playing for keeps,” and the conservative movement would need to actively defend the “fire of liberty” from being snuffed out this generation.
That effort, he said, begins with acknowledging that Americans are a people with their own nation, laws, and customs that are worth preserving and defending.
“We reject the idea that we are citizens of the world,” DeSantis said.
“No. We are Americans.”
