Ron DeSantis has been very lucky that the media is only talking about his culture wars and not about his actual record in Florida. The state ranks among the last in the country in nearly every metric that matters to voters. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more.
Transcript:
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
Mike Papantonio: Ron DeSantis has been very lucky that the media’s only talking about his ridiculous culture wars and not about his actual record in Florida, which is disgusting. The state ranks among the last in the country in nearly every metric that matters to voters. I have Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins with me to talk about what’s happening. You know, interesting thing, I think we started doing stories about what was happening in Florida and people said, well, you got a national show. Why are you worrying about Florida? We did stories on his ridiculous effort to do away with the Democratic Party. You remember that? And how he was gonna make bloggers register and be fined if they don’t register. And then the latest is to do away with the First Amendment and try to change New York Times versus Sullivan. So we did all those stories to let the public know that if he’s in charge as president, you better be ready for something. And it ain’t gonna be pretty. Right?
Farron Cousins: No. I mean, what has happened to the state of Florida is so much worse than what most people realize because it’s not just the culture war stuff, I know that’s what grabs the headlines, but across the state, people are suffering economically. We’re suffering educationally. We’re suffering as consumers. Across the board, this state has become, you know, by almost every metric, one of the worst in the country. We’re 49th in teacher pay. We are the worst in the country, by the way, of knowledge retention from students from fourth to eighth grade. So our children in Florida statistically get dumber as they move through school compared to every other state in the country.
Mike Papantonio: Okay. Just so there is, we’re talking objective numbers here.
Farron Cousins: Yes.
Mike Papantonio: School, we’re last, at the bottom where it comes to educating our kids. Healthcare, at the bottom in taking care of our healthcare in Florida. Elder care, at the bottom. I’m talking about like number 47 through 50 kind of bad. Salaries, the lowest in the nation. Unemployment benefits are the stingiest in the nation. Although taxpayers in Florida, the privileged pay, the privileged pay what? 1 to 2% taxes. Everybody else pays 12% taxes. And you just look, all you gotta do is look at this and say, okay, well this is his legacy. This is, take all this stuff, put it up here on his head and that’s what you got. This is the guy that’s running for president of the United States, and all you have to do is look at what he did to Florida. Disgusting record in Florida. The latest takes away people’s right to sue when they’ve been injured, malpractice, when their home gets blown away in a hurricane. All of these rights have been trampled on by this man who wants to be president of the United States.
Farron Cousins: And it gets so much worse too, because in terms of life expectancy, life expectancy in Florida continues to fall. We’re among the top in the country in cancer death, diabetes, drug overdoses, teen birth rates, infant mortality. And I was having to look up statistics the other day, we are among one of the worst states in the country with the rise in violent crime. So what we see in states like New York is a massive rise in property crime. But down here in Florida, property crime is declining, but violent crime is rising. So yes, in New York, you’re more likely to get mugged, but in Florida you’re more likely to get killed or beaten half to death because violent crime is becoming so rampant throughout the state.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. Okay. So let’s talk about the media’s handling on this. The media’s handling on this is like a yawn. Okay. The only thing they know how to do is hate talk. Let’s hate on this guy. Remember he was running against Charlie Crist, let’s talk about the hate aspect of him. Let’s hate on Ron DeSantis. They had all of this stuff to talk to and Charlie Crist was doing the same thing. That’s why he lost. He had all of this material, last in schools, last in healthcare, last in elder care, last in employment. I mean, you could go down this list, but the media is so dumbed down now that the all they’re looking for is low hanging fruit.
Farron Cousins: Yeah. And I’ll tell you another reason Charlie Crist couldn’t talk about this because, you know, plenty of these numbers started.
Mike Papantonio: With him.
Farron Cousins: On his watch when he was governor, a governor as a Republican.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. Yeah.
Farron Cousins: And then from Rick Scott, who you know, should have been in jail instead of the governor’s mansion.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. For stealing $1.6 billion, who’s now a senator in Florida.
Farron Cousins: So we have just had a string, Jeb Bush before Charlie. My god, we have been cursed down here in Florida, but this is as bad as it’s been. And I’m terrified to see what could come after this guy, because you know it’s not gonna get any better.
Mike Papantonio: Take all of these bad statistics, hang it around his neck and you tell me that this is a guy you want to vote for, for president of the United States. You know, that’s really the story here, isn’t it?
Farron Cousins: Yep.
