Winner and Loser of the Week in Florida politics — Week of 4.16.23

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ vendetta against Disney for meekly rebuking a single piece of legislation last year has earned him praise in some circles and criticism in others.

But the circle of people looking to pounce on the Governor is growing, as he continues escalating this feud to deal with Disney’s defiance.

This week featured DeSantis speaking near the site of Disney World, where he floated several legislative proposals, some of which are already making their way through the Legislature.

Of course, Republicans are looking to undo the agreement which neutered the new DeSantis-appointed board. Lawmakers are also looking at subjecting Disney — but not other amusement park competitors — to more strict regulations.

But it was the Governor’s suggestion of what to do with unused land around Disney that got the most play.

“People are like, well, ‘What should we do with this land? Maybe create a state park? Maybe try to do more amusement parks,’” DeSantis said, before adding the well-covered quip. “Somebody even said, ‘Maybe you need another state prison?’ Who knows? I just think that the possibilities are endless.”

The Governor’s decision to again ramp up this fight comes after Disney’s tricky move regarding the board, which made the Governor look like he got outplayed. Disney has also reportedly directed its lobbyists to fight back behind the scenes so long as DeSantis keeps going after the company.

It seems clear DeSantis was joking about the prison (we hope). But even cracking that Disney might have done something so wrong here as to warrant having a prison built next door is a bit kooky.

And more Republicans are beginning to take notice. Chris Christie is now echoing an argument New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has made for months, that the conservative position is to let the free market handle things, and that government should not be punishing companies for purportedly stepping out of line. To be fair, Christie and Sununu are both dancing with potential presidential bids, as is DeSantis.

Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, a Donald Trump administration vet, praised the Governor’s overall work leading Florida, but argued this week that DeSantis is “close to making a fool of himself with his Walt Disney obsession.”

And, of course, Trump himself swooped in, arguing his potential 2024 opponent “is being absolutely destroyed by Disney.”

Conservatives have long argued Disney is at risk of landing on the wrong side of the culture wars, meaning the Governor’s play should theoretically work with the base. But instead, Republicans are seeing this as a weak spot to hit the Governor. And those criticisms — especially from Trump — could reach Republican voters and flip how they see the Governor’s moves here.

That’s all while, to the rest of us, DeSantis is waging a war against one of his state’s economic behemoths because they disliked one of his bills. This may not lead to the happy ending DeSantis thought when he started this battle.

Now, it’s on to our weekly game of winners and losers.

Winners

Honorable mention: Executioners. The hoods and swords might be a thing of the past, but Florida’s capital punishment apparatus is getting a boost with a pair of measures approved this week.

After a jury spared the Parkland shooter of the death penalty, sentencing him to life in prison instead, Gov. DeSantis pushed to allow for the death penalty without a unanimous jury, as is required now. He got his wish, as lawmakers approved a bill allowing for the death penalty if just eight of 12 jurors agree.

DeSantis moved swiftly to sign the legislation.

On top of that, Florida legislators are testing Supreme Court precedent with a bill that allows child rapists to be put to death.

Two cases — Buford v. State of Florida and Kennedy v. Louisiana — have established precedent that a death penalty sentence is not allowed in such cases. Murder is the only crime for which the death penalty is currently allowed.

But Florida Republicans are looking to expand the use of executions, starting with those convicted of raping a child.

Republicans believe they have the moral high ground here (and depending on one’s moral philosophy, they may be right), but this is yet another boundary-pushing bill destined to end up in the court system at the cost of the state. Whether it will be successful under the currently constructed U.S. Supreme Court is anyone’s guess.

Almost (but not quite) the biggest winner: Florida media. Members of the media are breathing a sigh of relief after a controversial measure aimed at making it easier to sue media outlets for defamation died before reaching the floor of either chamber.

Make no mistake, this is not just a case of the so-called “mainstream media” rejoicing. A series of Republicans pilloried this bill, arguing conservative outlets could just as easily be in the crosshairs of defamation lawyers.

The bill would have dropped the “actual malice” requirement which, under current law, is required in order for a public figure to successfully sue for defamation. House lawmakers also inserted language into their bill stating that stories which use anonymous sources are presumed to be false.

Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican and the sponsor of the House bill, acknowledged the legislation was dead in the water after months of outcry and an inability for House and Senate lawmakers to agree on the final language.

“While I’m sure journalists and media outlets cared a great deal about this policy, there were just too many more important issues than a niche issue in civil torts that we needed to commit our time and attention towards,” he said.

As has been true with other red meat legislation lawmakers have pushed in recent years, this measure was a rushed product aimed at satisfying a culture war grievance that ultimately would have led to more problems than it solved.

Republican lawmakers could easily bring back a version of the legislation next Session. Maybe some of those issues will be fixed. Maybe we’ll be having this same debate again while Republicans decide whether to power through regardless. But for now, a bad bill is on the cutting room floor.

The biggest winner: Trump. The former President continues to snatch endorsements from Florida congressional delegation members right from under the nose of Gov. DeSantis.

This week saw another flood of lawmakers rushing to Trump’s side. He now has 11 members of Florida’s 20-person Republican delegation behind him. DeSantis has courted just one.

Trump is still a woefully flawed candidate — and human — prone to throw aside all norms and protections that make this country what it is in order to satisfy his whims at a given moment. But the more Republicans that gather around him and make him seem like an acceptable candidate — or an inevitable one — the more voters will take their cues and line up behind Trump once again.

But these endorsements are not just the name under Trump’s on a tally sheet. These backers will give stump speeches, make media appearances, blast out emails and do other work aimed at getting Trump the GOP nomination. And thanks to veteran campaign operatives like Susie Wiles — who was cast out of DeSantis’ orbit by the Governor himself, whoops — Trump is amassing support far better than he did in 2016, the last time he ran as a non-incumbent.

Can Trump win a General Election after already demonstrating his unfitness to come anywhere near the presidency again? If the Democrats run a clearly faltering octogenarian with poll numbers so low they mirror Trump’s own during his time in office, then maybe! Will Trump’s legal troubles finally catch up to him and hamper his bid down the line? They sure could.

But for now, when it comes to the raw politics of this moment, Trump and his team are putting on a clinic, and putting DeSantis and the rest of the Republican field on notice that they are not playing around.

Losers

Dishonorable mention: Division of Emergency Management. Much of the state is still catching up on sleep this morning thanks to a colossal screw-up by DEM.

As most of you know, and are still stewing about, the agency sent out a test alert (A TEST!) at 4:45 a.m. early Thursday morning, rousing everyone in the state not working the overnight shift or training for a marathon.

That alert was supposed to be sent to televisions across the state. It’s a standard practice to run such tests so early, as fewer people are watching TV, thereby causing less disruption.

DEM is blaming a software contractor, Everbridge, for sending improper coding instructions for the test, which caused the alert to go out over Floridians’ phones instead.

The state has now ended its multimillion-dollar contract with Everbridge.

Thursday morning, shortly after the alert, Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia floated filing legislation barring any alerts from going out between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., to avoid such a snafu going forward. He earned support from several of his colleagues, who offered some comments in jest.

“My newborn and I would consider this a friendly amendment,” said GOP Rep. Fiona McFarland, who is sponsoring a bill this Session which could conceivably be amended to include the change.

But while the rage-inducing moment prompted many to turn to humor just to cope, this problem is actually far from a laughing matter.

While these alerts can save lives during hurricanes or other emergencies, many Floridians already view them as a mere distraction. Firing off an airhorn-level alert at 4:45 in the morning is only going to nudge those people further to turn off the alerts entirely. There’s no telling how many did so after Thursday’s mistake.

Almost (but not quite) the biggest loser: Ryan Tyson. As we covered in last week’s edition, Gov. Ron DeSantis was facing a flurry of endorsements in his home state’s congressional delegation going to likely 2024 rival Donald Trump. That risked leaving a black mark on the Florida Governor’s still-unannounced campaign before it even started.

So, as NBC News reported, DeSantis tasked his team with reaching out and stopping the bleeding before DeSantis likely launches his bid in just a few short weeks. Heading that effort was Tyson, a GOP pollster allied with the Governor.

As we raised concerns with the optics of delegation members endorsing Trump last week, the former President had notched just four endorsements.

As of this writing, it’s 11.

Needless to say, it doesn’t seem like Tyson’s charm offensive worked.

Other outlets have reported that Trump is reaching out personally to members of the delegation to secure their support. That culminated in a Thursday evening dinner at Mar-a-Lago featuring Republican delegation members in Trump’s corner.

Contrast that with Team DeSantis tasking a pollster to woo support to his side.

“Part of the problem with Tyson is that nobody knew who the f**k he was,” one adviser to a member of Congress said, according to Puck News.

Ouch.

It’s not just that Tyson’s efforts failed. Trump nearly tripled his support among DeSantis’ home state delegation since the Governor began his outreach effort. So while Tyson dropped the ball, maybe the problem is at the top …

The biggest loser: DeSantis. As it became clear this week that a phone call was not going to cut it in terms of winning support to his side, DeSantis traveled to Washington to speak to GOP members of the U.S. House in person.

It, uh, didn’t go well.

Yes, DeSantis managed to nab one member of Florida’s congressional delegation. U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee, DeSantis’ former Secretary of State, endorsed her former boss.

But the rest of the delegation continues to flee. Outside the state, DeSantis met personally with U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas, prompting Gooden to leave the meeting and announce his endorsement … of Trump.

“I met with Governor DeSantis, and while he has done commendable work in Florida, there is no doubt in my mind that President Trump is the only leader who can save America from the leftist onslaught we are currently facing,” Gooden said.

Oh boy.

It appears that DeSantis’ long-discussed coldness and lone wolf mindset may finally be catching up to him. It’s not just that Trump is calling Representatives to secure their endorsements. It’s that DeSantis is failing to do basic, human things that might endear him to his home state delegation.

U.S. Rep. Greg Steube told POLITICO that DeSantis had never reached out to him personally despite Steube’s attempts to connect. Steube reiterated those remarks Friday morning on Fox News.

Trump, meanwhile, was the first person Steube remembers calling him while the Congressman recovered from a fall in the intensive care unit. “To this day I have not heard from Gov. DeSantis,” Steube added.

Forget running for President. How are you so incompetent as a politician and a person that you can’t reach out to a fellow lawmaker, especially a party member, after he had such a serious accident? And yes, as cynical as it is, DeSantis has been mulling a run for months. He should have known that he needed support from Florida delegation members and worked to build relationships there, including the obvious move of calling Steube after his accident.

Look, is it stupid that political endorsements are happening based on relationships and not based on who is actually the best man for the job regardless of whether you’ve spoken to the man or woman personally? Yeah. This whole series of events is revealing how glad handing and likely favor-trading goes into these endorsements, and why they shouldn’t be the glaring indicators of good leadership that many make them out to be.

But guess what? A good politician plays the game as it is. And DeSantis is failing woefully at giving members what they want in order to back his bid to topple Trump.

For more than half of the GOP delegation, it’s already too late. No one is going to magically swap their endorsement, save some major calamity for Trump.

It is safe to say DeSantis had bungled his as-yet-unannounced bid for President so far. There is plenty of time to correct the ship before next year’s Primaries. But the more he fails to do so, the more it looks likely that he never will. If he’s going to take a shot at Trump, he and his team need to agree that things are not working and make fixes fast. Otherwise, DeSantis is going the way of Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Scott Walker before him.