Florida governor: Defending justice is not easy and should not follow the old path of establishment failure

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (right) delivers opening remarks at CPAC (Photo credit: video screenshot)

In his opening remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday (Feb. 26), Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed the “failed Republican establishment of the past” and said the same mistakes should not be repeated, and DeSantis said defending what is right is not It’s not easy.

Speaking on the opening day of the annual conservative gathering, DeSantis said, “Right now, Florida is leading the way on conservative issues, and we will not make empty statements, we will act decisively,” and “What happened in Florida is true for conservatives across the country. We can’t, we won’t go back to the old days when the Republican establishment failed.”

“Rush (a well-known conservative host who recently passed away) was one of the first to fight against the ‘Culture of abolition.’ Rush showed that it takes strength to fight the left and that conservative establishmentism that lacks a backbone is doomed to fail”, he said, “Especially now, it takes a price to defend what is right, you get attacked, you get silenced, you even get eliminated (Cancelled) by mainstream left-wing politicians” The question now is, when the situation takes a sharp turn, “are you going to hold on, or are you going to retreat.”

DeSantis is an up-and-comer in the Republican ranks. He was elected governor in 2019 and has overseen the response to the pandemic since 2020, when the state adopted a lenient Epidemic prevention policy to avoid school and business closures while balancing control of the outbreak. Compared to places like New York and California, which have long blocked epidemic preparedness, Florida has not fallen behind, and economic development has been minimally affected.

“As a state, we’ve become stronger, and as a people, we’re happier. Florida’s per capita COVID (Chinese Communist Virus) death rate is lower than the national average and lower than 27 other states,” he said, adding, “Even though tourism has not fully recovered, our unemployment rate is lower than the national average, and our budget is in good shape.”

In an earlier speech, he described Florida as “an oasis of freedom for a nation suffering from a repressive embargo. The Florida governor said, “Florida is right, and the blockaded states are wrong.”

The CPAC will run through the afternoon of the 28th, when former President Trump will give his first public speech since leaving office.