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OPINION: America would be soaring under a President DeSantis

Jake Hoffman
Jake Hoffman

Let's face it: "Make America Florida" isn’t just a slogan. It's a reality.

There is a very real possibility that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will win the presidency in the near future. And just on the issue of COVID alone, the contrast between the policies implemented by Gov. DeSantis in Florida and those imposed on Americans by current President Joe Biden is a pretty stark one.

In Florida we have been living relatively normal lives for some time now.

Meanwhile, thanks to Biden and the federal government, millions of Americans in other states are still living under local authoritarianism – and still daydreaming about how much better their lives would be if America's Governor was in the White House right now.

Well, for those of you who haven't spent time in Florida over the past two years, let me paint you a picture.

First, two things are clear:

• Throughout the pandemic, Florida has not been wrong about any of our COVID response policies.

• The stack of lies and falsehoods – on masks, shutdowns, vaccines and more – from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, Big Pharma, Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Biden administration keeps rising higher than our country's rate of inflation.

President Joe Biden, right, looks at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, during a briefing with first responders and local officials in Miami, Thursday, July 1, 2021, on the condo tower that collapsed in Surfside, Fla., last week.

The fact is that if Ron DeSantis had been our president last year, every state would have had a rational voice in the room urging bureaucratic three-letter agencies to keep that state's businesses open and economy thriving – and to focus its health care efforts on treatments instead of only vaccines.

Right now if you’re unvaccinated, you risk getting COVID, spreading COVID and dying from COVID. But if you do get a vaccine, guess what? You can also get COVID, spread COVID and die from COVID – and who knows what the potential adverse effects may be from these shots years down the line.

Unfortunately, those who have taken the vaccine will double down on rationalizing their decision because it is a permanent one – and nobody wants to admit that they were wrong. However, had the federal government followed Gov. DeSantis' lead and concentrated its efforts on monoclonal antibody treatment, isolating the elderly when sick, making generic drugs widely available and promoting health and exercise, all of America would be better off right now

Most people have understood for some time that vaccines aren’t going to be the solution to the pandemic; at best they can only contain a respiratory illness that mutates every few months like the flu. Yet Joe Biden continues to issue unconstitutional mandates that he knows will get struck down in court – and he continues to arm agencies like OSHA to enforce mandates that will never stop the virus.

Instead of someone who puts from-the-top-down pressure on governors to comply with federal regulations, we need a president who allows companies and individuals to make their own decisions without government interference. (A novel idea in today’s America.)

A president like Ron DeSantis.

Along with Gov. DeSantis, perhaps the most refreshing figure in Florida at the moment is our new reality-based Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who understands the task at hand much better than all of our other so-called "experts."

Under a President DeSantis, Ladapo would likely be the health expert we would see on TV every night instead of the corrupt Fauci. That's because despite taking a beating in the media for his holistic approach to public health policy, Ladapo is promoting healthy behaviors that have been scientifically sound for hundreds of years – radical concepts such as eating right, exercising and using vitamins to supplement deficiencies.

I don’t think one person – even a president – can totally dismantle the pharmaceutical lobby in Washington. But it sure would be nice to have people in federal health agencies who believe in science, instead of 40-year bureaucrats who have spent the last two years manipulating data for their own gain.

And, beyond COVID, Florida has also taken the lead on many other issues.

On election integrity, Florida – thanks to Gov. DeSantis' leadership – has passed the most comprehensive voting rights act in any state to secure the sanctity of our elections. Meanwhile, Biden has used widely divisive language to support the worst piece of legislation I’ve seen in my lifetime: the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would federalize elections. 

In Florida we have also tried to reign in Big Tech's influence with policies to punish tech companies if they ban politicians from their platforms. Meanwhile, Biden wants to work with Big Tech to eliminate dissent.

On the issue of school curriculum, DeSantis believes that children should be taught civics and a complete, unfiltered view of American history in schools. Meanwhile, Biden and his administration have advocated for policies that openly indoctrinate children to hate this country.

When it comes to addressing all of these tough issues – and many more – DeSantis has clearly been far more successful than Biden has managed to be.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, DeSantis is actually able to speak in full sentences.

The bottom line is that if we had a President DeSantis instead of a President Biden right now, all Americans would be experiencing a return to normalcy like the one Floridians have been enjoying for some time.

We would be commanding and drawing respect on the international stage.

And instead of having a president who is associated with an endless pandemic and an endless string of embarrassing moments, we would have a president we could proudly call the true leader of the free world.

In other words, 2024 can’t come soon enough

Jake Hoffman is president of the Tampa Bay Young Republicans. He is a Republican Party candidate in Hillsborough County for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives. He is the CEO of Invasion Digital Media and host of the weekly internet show "Moderately Outraged."