The 2020-21 pandemic has highlighted the brilliance of the Founding Fathers in establishing federalism as an antidote to tyranny.
In other words, when a tyrant controls a state’s government, citizens may flee to freer states.
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis reminded us of these facts during a Thursday press conference as he blasted Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz for his authoritarianism in the coronavirus era, including the A “whistle-blower hotline” that evokes your worst instincts encourages people to report fellow citizens who refuse to comply with the governor’s coronavirus-related orders.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic 2024 presidential candidate, named Walz as her running mate on Tuesday. Things are not going well for Minnesota’s governor, to say the least.
In recent days, Walz has found himself embroiled in a “stolen courage” scandal of his own making. He has been criticized largely for his repeated public assertions that he never achieved such a rank while serving in the Minnesota National Guard, before reportedly abandoning the force and running for Congress instead of deploying to Iraq.
DeSantis has chosen a different but equally effective offensive line.
In fact, the Florida governor criticized Walz in the context of immigration issues, namely citizens fleeing Democratic-controlled states.
“Look, we’ve had the highest net migration of any state since 2020,” DeSantis said. “It’s coming from states, you know, like Minnesota, frankly, with Walz.”
In a subsequent press conference, DeSantis explained why so many people voted with their feet and fled Walz’s state.
“As the governor of Florida, I know a lot about other states because when people leave those states, they tell me why they left those states,” he said.
“And I remember during COVID, people were leaving Minnesota and they were very frustrated because of how they were being treated,” he added.
DeSantis then took aim at Walz’s tyranny and hypocrisy.
“He said this on his speaking tour, you know, ‘Our neighbors can do what they want. Mind your own business. Beautiful. So why do you have a hotline for neighbors to report them? What about neighbors violating your tough coronavirus restrictions? says an increasingly active DeSantis.
Moments later, after a round of applause, DeSantis took up the theme of tyranny and hypocrisy.
“He would say, ‘We should make health care choices, and those are your choices.'” Beautiful. Great. So why are you mandating the experimental mRNA COVID-19 vaccine for your employees? He does this for all government employees,” DeSantis said. “This is absolutely ridiculous.”
Note that Florida’s governor refuses to even use the word “vaccine.”
With comments like this, he reminds us why conservatives have long admired him.
Readers can watch a 5-minute clip of the press conference below. Comments about Walz’s COVID-19 policies began around 2:15 a.m.
Of course, former President Donald Trump earned the gratitude and even love of millions. After all, when the deep state is trying to frame you for colluding with Russia, impeaching you, framing you and your supporters to create a false “insurrection” narrative, raiding your home, indicting you four times, trying to bankrupt you, and imprison you— — Worse still — millions of citizens see through the fog of establishment propaganda and realize that the deep state must view you as an existential threat.
When enough citizens come to this conclusion, other competitors have no chance.
Still, DeSantis’ failure to defeat Trump in the 2024 Republican primaries doesn’t obscure the fact that many Trump supporters still believe DeSantis is the best governor in the country, which they undoubtedly believe In large part that’s because of DeSantis’ COVID-related policies.
DeSantis’ criticism of Walz is therefore almost certain to be popular with voters already leaning toward rejecting the Minnesota governor.
However, time will tell whether this angle of attack will be popular with the electorate as a whole.
After all, the COVID-19 era has exposed two sets of tyrants. It exposed elected officials like Walz who set up Soviet-style snitch hotlines and encouraged people to report on their neighbors. But it also exposes those potential tyrants among us who call the hotline and report it.
In short, DeSantis was right to criticize Walz and praise those Minnesota citizens who fled to Florida.
But how many of the tyrants next door remain? How many people have shown no remorse for their role in COVID-era tyranny? It remains to be seen how many people plan to vote for Harris-Walz in November?
This article originally appeared in Western Daily News.
