ANOTHER GOOD MOVE BY RON – AT 11:35 P.M. ET:  Gov. Ron deSantis of Florida continues to hit one home run after another.  Polls show he is now the most popular Republican candidate for the party's 2024 presidential nomination.  His political instincts are right on.  From Daily Caller:

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Tuesday requiring high school students to learn about the evils of communist ideologies.

During a press conference at Three Oaks Middle School in Fort Myers, Florida, DeSantis signed three education bills designed to foster civic literacy in schools.

“It’s crucial to ensure that we teach our students how to be responsible citizens,” DeSantis said during the press conference. “They need to have a good working knowledge of American history, American government and the principles that underlie our Constitution and Bill of Rights.”

Florida HB 5 adds a requirement to the high school government curriculum that students be taught the “evils of communism and totalitarian ideologies.”

“We have a number of people in Florida, particularly southern Florida, who’ve escaped totalitarian regimes, who’ve escaped communist dictatorships to be able to come to America. We want all students to understand the difference, why would somebody flee across shark-infested waters, say leaving from Cuba to come to southern Florida. Why would somebody leave a place like Vietnam? Why would people leave these countries and risk their life to be able to come here. It’s important students understand that,” DeSantis said.

Absolutely dead on.

The bill also contains a provision that will create a “Portraits and Patriotism Library,” the purpose of which is for students to learn about “real patriots” who came to America after fleeing communist and socialist regimes, DeSantis explained.

The governor also signed SB 1108, which requires state college and university students to take a civic literacy course and a civic literacy assessment as a graduation requirement, and HB 233, which requires colleges and universities to conduct annual assessments on the “intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity” at their institutions.

“It used to be thought that a university campus was a place you’d be exposed to a lot of different ideas,” DeSantis said. “Unfortunately now, the norm is really that these are more intellectually oppressive environments. You have orthodoxies that are promoted, and other viewpoints are shunned or even suppressed. We don’t want that in Florida.”

COMMENT:   I have no doubt that the "sophisticates" will pounce on deSantis, but he'll have the people on his side.  His comments about the state of universities will strike a chord with parents who have heard horror stories from their own children. 

Ron's immediate hurdle is the 2022 Florida governor's race, in which he'll be running for re-election.  He should ace that, and would then be well set up for 2024, assuming Trump doesn't run.

June 23, 2021