DV Journal

A new Franklin & Marshall Poll released Thursday found a jaw-dropping 84 percent of Pennsylvania voters think President Joe Biden, once called a “scrappy kid from Scranton,” is too old for a second term. That compared to 47 percent who said the same about Donald Trump.

“Most of those people are Democrats, actually, who say that Biden is too old,” said Berwood Yost, Director of the Franklin & Marshall Poll, to DVJournal. “Republicans say, ‘Yeah, Biden’s too old.’ Democrats are more likely to say they’re both too old.”

The age issue has plagued Biden, who turns 81 next month, all year. A Delaware Valley Journal/Coefficient poll in July found that 48 percent of suburban voters didn’t believe he was mentally or physically fit to face a crisis as president.

Some Pennsylvania Democrats, however, said they believe Trump’s problematic politics will more than make up for doubts about Biden’s abilities.

“It’s an issue – plain and simple,” said T.J. Rooney, a Democratic strategist. “However, Trump still has a stranglehold on the Republican Party. As long as that remains the case, Republicans will continue to lose elections – from the state house to the White House.”

The poll results should still be disturbing for Democrats wanting to keep their “Blue Wall” of Midwestern and blue-collar states intact. Biden leads Trump 44 to 42, despite the latter’s indictment on multiple charges in federal and state courts. It is worth noting that an early October survey from Emerson College Polling gave Trump a nine-point lead over Biden.

Also troublesome for Democrats is that Biden’s favorability rating within their party was at 57 percent. That is well below the 78 percent favorability the president enjoys nationally among Democrats.

Biden’s overall favorability rating is no better. Fifty-eight percent of the surveyed 873 registered voters had a negative opinion. Only 40 percent gave him a favorable rating.

“I think it’s clear that these concerns about the economy are really dragging on the president and how they feel about him,” said Yost. Biden’s current rating is lower than Trump’s and former President Barack Obama’s ratings in Pennsylvania at the same point in their first term. “You look at the numbers, and you just see that there’s not a terrible amount of enthusiasm at this point for his candidacy.”

For comparison, Trump has a similar 58 percent unfavorable rating but a 41 percent favorable – one percent higher than Biden.

The high unfavorable ratings may not stop people from picking Biden or Trump.

“No one’s running against Biden, and then Trump obviously has such a grip on the GOP base that it doesn’t matter what he really does,” Larry Ceisler of Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy told DVJournal. He believes the country is craving for different candidates but is resigned to Biden-Trump II. “People are expressing their hopes for what they wish it could be.”

Trump dominates the Republican field. He scored 55 percent support in the Republican Primary field, with Ron DeSantis far behind at 14 percent. The Florida governor has seen the floor drop since April 2023, when he was only six points behind Trump. In third place was former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley with nine percent.

Head-to-head, those surveyed think Biden was more trustworthy and had better judgment. He also ranked higher on values issues like abortion and gay marriage. Biden led Trump 42-41 percent on who understands ordinary Americans.

Trump scored higher on the economy (49-38) and as commander in chief of the military (47-39).

Democrats like Rooney aren’t publicly sweating Biden’s low number against Trump. “Lots of road for Trump to cover in court before next November.”

Unlike Biden, things for Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro appear to be going all right. The poll found 49 percent believed Shapiro was doing an “excellent” or “good” job as the state’s top elected official. The only Pennsylvania governor to have a higher rating 10 months into his term was Tom Ridge.

Yost saw it as Shapiro’s style of governance. “He’s implemented some policies that are things that Republicans might support. He’s been supportive of school choice. I think he’s a moderate leader that communicates things well.”

Shapiro is unsurprisingly doing well with Democrats, generating 76 percent support. But it was a different story with independents and Republicans. The governor garnered 25 percent approval from the GOP and only 38 percent from independent voters. It was still enough to get him an overall 57 percent favorable rating.

There are still problems for Shapiro and the state legislature. The Franklin & Marshall College Poll revealed 50 percent of respondents felt they are “worse off” compared to 2022, and 35 percent thought they will be financially worse off from last year. And voters were worried about the state of Pennsylvania, with 55 percent saying it was “on the wrong track.”

“I think that’s a blanket issue,” commented Shapiro. “Certainly, the state legislature has had its share of issues. Particularly the House being able to organize itself early in the term. There’s still some spending bills left to finish in the state.”

He added national issues like inflation are likely why people seem pessimistic about their situation.

The poll also found incumbent Democrat Sen. Bob Casey holds a seven-point lead over likely GOP challenger Dave McCormick.

That has Ceisler believing that things will be fine for Democrats in 2024. “I don’t see a scenario where Bob Casey wins reelection and Joe Biden loses the state. [Democrats are] sending a message to Joe Biden, but, at the end of the day, they’re going to vote for him.”

The old adage is to dress for the job you want. But for first-term U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), the job has changed its dress code for him.

Fetterman, whose fitness to serve in the Senate has been in question since he suffered a debilitating stroke during the 2022 Democratic primary, has been roaming the halls of the Capitol in his favorite outfit — baggy shorts and a hoodie — for weeks. In order to vote, the shabbily-clad senator would stand at the edge of the Senate floor, with one foot still in the cloakroom.

Not anymore. The dress code has been dumped in an accommodation of Fetterman’s fashion choices. For senators, anyway. Staff and visitors must still wear suit jackets, dresses, and other traditional business attire.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) shrugged off the change as a minor matter.

“There has been an informal dress code that was enforced,” Schumer said in a statement. “Senators are able to choose what they wear on the Senate floor. I will continue to wear a suit.”

Critics promptly noted that “informal” codes aren’t “enforced.” In this case, the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms was in charge of upholding the dress code. Schumer has now instructed that senators no longer be held to any standard.

David Urban, who was chief of staff to the late Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), told CBS News the change was sad, saying Fetterman has worn a coat and tie in the past and should have continued to do so.

“It is serious work that you’re doing in the Senate. You’re not gardening. You’re running the nation,” Urban said.

Etiquette expert Jacqueline Whitmore told DVJournal she agreed.

“First, I’d like to ask Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to define ‘relaxed and casual attire.’ Does that mean jeans, shorts, gym clothes, or all of the above? A dress code of any kind needs to be clearly defined so there are no violations or grey areas. To allow senators to dress casually but to require all others who work on the Senate floor to conform to a more formal dress code seems unfair and unjust.”

Former Sen. Pat Toomey, who Fetterman replaced after beating Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2022, declined to comment on the dress code issue.

Jacqueline Whitmore, an etiquette expert at The Protocol School of Palm Beach, said, “First, I’d like to ask Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to define ‘relaxed and casual attire.’ Does that mean jeans, shorts, gym clothes, or all of the above? A dress code of any kind needs to be clearly defined so there are no violations or grey areas. To allow Senators to dress casually but to require all others who work on the Senate floor to conform to a more formal dress code seems unfair and unjust.”

Critics of the change called Schumer’s climbdown a win for Fetterman.

“The man’s an elected representative of the great state of Pennsylvania, serving in an august legislative chamber; would it have been too much to ask that he put on a tie?” asked the New York Post. “We don’t know how Fetterman won the fight, be it via hissy fit or simple obstinacy, but as of this week, the dress code is reportedly donezo.”

Leila, a spokesperson for Fetterman who refused to give her last name, said, “Sen. Fetterman is following all the dress code guidelines set by the Senate. Last week, Sen. Schumer directed the Senate sergeant of arms to no longer enforce the chamber’s informal dress code. And the Senate guidelines for dress have been changed and updated many times, just not in the last few years. So, this is not a new instance. This is just the first time it happened in a while.”

During a speech in Jacksonville on Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) spoke out about the Senate clothing rule.

“Did you guys hear the U.S. Senate just eliminated its dress code because you’ve got this guy from Pennsylvania who’s got a lot of problems? Let’s just be honest. Like how he got elected because they didn’t want the alternative,” DeSantis said. “He wears like sweatshirts and hoodies, and that’s his thing.

“To show up in the United States Senate [dressed like] that and not have the decency to put on proper attire, I think it’s disrespectful to the body,” DeSantis added. “And I think the fact that the Senate changed the rules to accommodate that, I think, speaks very poorly as to how they consider that.”

“We need to be lifting up our standards in this country, not dumbing down our standards in this country,” DeSantis said.

Many people weighed in on X (formerly Twitter).

Michael Caputo, who worked in the Trump administration, tweeted: “A sartorial suggestion for the @SenateGOP: If Fetterman can wear a hoodie, you can wear a hat.” It was accompanied by a picture of former President Trump tossing red MAGA caps.

“The Senate will no longer enforce its dress code, all because John Fetterman is a revolting slob,” added Fox News contributor Monica Crowley.

“A grown man going to work looking like a middle schooler,” the Pennridge Area Republican Club posted. “Embarrassing.”

Whitmore told DVJournal that her advice to corporate clients is, “Dress for your client’s comfort, not your own. Dressing well shows respect for yourself and for the people you serve.”

But Fetterman was unfazed.

“They’re freaking out, I don’t understand it,” he said of his critics. “Like, aren’t there more important things we should be working on right now instead of, you know, that I might be dressing like a slob?”

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In a display of the political power of the parents’ rights issue,  five Republican presidential candidates—including former President Donald Trump — appeared at this weekend’s Moms for Liberty Joyful Warriors National Summit in Philadelphia.

The crowd of more than 650 at the Philadelphia Marriott cheered Gov. Ron DeSantis, who noted, “I think moms are the key political force for this 2024 cycle.”

Tia Bess, outreach director for Moms for Liberty, introduced DeSantis, describing how she fought to reopen Florida schools for her autistic son, who needed in-person learning.

“I made a decision to fight for my kid,” she said. “It was my governor who put the power back in the hands of the parents with a parental bill of rights…Gov. DeSantis reopened schools in the fall of 2020.”

DeSantis said Florida enacted a parents’ bill of rights because he understands schools should “support students and parents” not “supersede the rights of parents.”

“Parents have the fundamental right to direct the education and upbringing of their children…Every parent in this country should have the wherewithal to send their child to the school of their choice.”

He said his state has universal education savings accounts where the money follows the students in Florida. There are also 363,000 students in charter schools. He said Florida ranked third and fourth in the country in fourth-grade reading and math. Florida parents also have the right to know what curriculum is being taught.

DeSantis also refuted claims that keeping sexually explicit content out of school libraries is a “ban” and touted Florida’s efforts to force textbook companies to change “woke” textbooks “that were totally off their rocker.”

“We don’t subcontract our leadership out to woke corporations,” DeSantis said about Disney’s opposition to the ban on teaching young children about gender ideology. “We oppose the sexualization of children,” said DeSantis. “We will fight any institution seeking to rob our children of their innocence. On those principles, we will never compromise.”

Trump gave a wide-ranging speech, touching on parental rights and foreign policy and criticizing Biden’s “corruption” for taking “millions and millions of dollars from China.”

Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice talks to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“He recently ordered his top political opponent arrested. That’s me,” said Trump.

“They’ve even targeted you, patriotic parents, at school board meetings,” he said while ignoring bad actors. “Antifa. BLM. Corrupt thugs, they don’t go after at all.”

“We have proven beyond all doubt there is no earthy force beyond the love of a mother for her children,” Trump said. Mothers across the country have “taught the radical left Marxists a lesson they’ll never forget: Don’t mess with America’s moms.”

And the “radical left slandered Moms for Liberty as a hate group,” he said. “These people are sick.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a progressive activist organization, included Moms For Liberty on their “Hate Map,” along with groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

Trump mentioned the border crisis, the Ukraine-Russia war, and Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Trump predicted he would win suburban women, a key demographic because those women oppose endless wars.

“I will stop World War III,” Trump said.

Warrington Supervisor Vanessa Maurer and pro-life activist Kathy Barnette

“We will put parents first,” said Trump. “We will put children first. We will put America first again.”

Trump added, “We want our children to love America as much as we love America.”

If re-elected, he would send the responsibility for education back to the states and do away with diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates.

He also promised to ban “sexual mutilation in all 50 states,” a reference to performing permanent sex-change medical procedures on children.

“Instead of taking children to church, they’re taking them to drag shows,” he said. “We must take school boards back.”

He reminded the group that he appointed 300 federal judges and three U.S. Supreme Court justices. He praised the high court’s ruling Thursday overturning affirmative action and the landmark ruling last year overturning Roe v. Wade.

Former South Carolina governor and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said moms care about everything from crime to national security. She mentioned the country’s $32 trillion debt and blamed Republicans and Democrats for wasting money.

On education, she said, the country had problems with poor test scores before COVID.

Ambassador Nikki Haley

“You’ve got biological boys playing in girls’ sports,” she said. “This is one of the biggest women’s issues of our time…We have to fight for our girls.”

While massive protests predicted by opponents of parental rights failed to materialize, about 100 or so protesters gathered outside the venue during Trump’s speech. And vandals defaced the Museum of the American Revolution, where the Moms held their welcome dinner Thursday evening.

Warrington Township Supervisor Vanessa Maurer came to support Moms for Liberty when she heard about protests, even though she’s not a member.

“I like their message,” she said. “When I saw all the protests saying they wanted to shut down a ‘group of domestic terrorists,’ I thought, ‘I know a lot of these moms. This is ridiculous.’ If we don’t stand up and support these groups that are supporting our liberties and our freedoms, then it’s really going to be lost. We have to have people start speaking up and support people who are supporting our freedom of speech, our liberties, and our faith.”

Kathy Barnette, a pro-life activist who ran for Congress and the U.S. Senate, gave the invocation Friday morning.

“I’m a mom,” she said to DVJournal. “There is no more powerful group of people than moms from conception to whatever the natural end may be. There is no more powerful role for our nation than a mom who cares about her family, her children, and the kids the country they’re going to inherit. This is amazing to see moms take their role.”

“I homeschooled my kids,” she said. “Ten years ago, I saw what parents are seeing now…Today all these moms being involved is encouraging.”

Upset over school COVID lockdowns, Whitpain resident Maureen Bogat started the Montgomery County chapter of Moms for Liberty with Vicki Flannery.

Then parents saw what was being taught.

“My child was online one day, and she was told…because she was White, she was privileged. There was no such thing as reverse racism. I’m like, ‘What is this? Shut that off now. What is that garbage they’re teaching you? What does it have to do with school?’ It opened parents’ eyes.”

Tina Descovich, who founded Moms for Liberty with Tiffany Justice, said they both were school board members in Melbourne, Fla. and decided to launch the organization to help all moms advocate for their children because of what they’d learned “behind the education curtain.”

“We saw the authority and power that school boards have to impact student learning,” she said. “With the education crisis we have in America right now, with two-thirds of fourth graders not being able to read on grade level, with the lowest reading scores since the 1980s and the lowest math scores that have just come that are the lowest we’ve had recorded, we feel we need to get quality people serving on school boards so that we can improve educations.”

Asked about the recent brouhaha over one chapter’s inclusion of a quote from Hitler in their newsletter, she said, “It was a mom in a small local chapter. She put the quote in the newsletter as a warning about who controls education controls the country. She put it as a warning.”

Moms for Liberty has nearly 100,00 members with 195 chapters in 43 states, with Pennsylvania the second highest after Florida. There are chapters in 27 Pennsylvania counties, including Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Bucks Counties.

In 10 short months, presidential caucus-goers in Iowa will fire the official starting pistol on the 2024 race for the White House. For Republicans hoping to challenge the party’s standard-bearer for the nomination, though, it may already be too late.

The indictment of former president Donald Trump by a Manhattan grand jury has catapulted him to the top of the polls, rallying his supporters and swamping him in campaign donations. Trump raked in more than $4 million in donations within 24 hours of the indictment. He couldn’t have scripted a better recharge for his flagging third attempt at a second term.

Trump’s appeal to voters has always relied on portraying himself as a victim of a progressive left determined to silence him. As such, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, played right into Trump’s hands by delivering what, by most assessments, is a weak case that the former president violated campaign finance law during the 2016 campaign.

Winning the sympathy vote isn’t the same as winning the White House. That requires earning a majority of the vote in the general election, something Republicans haven’t done in the last four presidential contests.

Trump’s superpower has always been his ability to endure circumstances that would make others cringe. It’s one of the reasons his base adores him. Yet, even under the favorable conditions presented by the Electoral College, a Trump win in 2024 is, at best, a roll of the dice.

This week revealed that few Republican hopefuls can rival the former president’s popularity with the party’s base.

Polling after the indictment showed Trump leading the pack of Republican nomination hopefuls with 47 percent of support among Republican and Republican-leaning voters. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, with 33 percent support, was the only Republican who presented a serious challenge. Everyone else was in single digits.

DeSantis hasn’t officially entered the race, but few doubt his intention once the Florida legislative session wraps in May. Far from being scared off by his second-place finish, DeSantis’ showing only bolsters the case for his candidacy.

Any candidate under indictment undoubtedly faces longer odds of winning the general election. There are also the investigations into Trump’s handling of classified documents and the grand jury inquiry into election tampering accusations in Georgia that have yet to play out.

At some point, Republicans must choose the candidate with the best chance of taking back the White House, which means expanding the party’s current coalition. If the GOP base isn’t interested in winning the election that counts, what’s the point of being a party?

DeSantis offers Republicans an alternative with similar appeal among Trump’s populist base but without the legal minefield. He’s also a winner, sweeping into power in 2020 with a majority and long coattails that gave Florida Republicans a trifecta over the levers of power in the state.

Trump and DeSantis share a few similarities in policy, and they have a pugilist’s willingness to throw a punch, but they differ significantly in style. While Trump was playing the victim on social media this week, DeSantis was busy governing the third-most-populous state in the nation.

DeSantis has drawn criticism for appearing aloof and detached from the baby-kissing and glad-handing required on the national campaign trail. Still, he is free of the gaffs and grievance politics that define Trump.

DeSantis has established a solid following among GOP donors, too. The DeSantis-aligned Never Back Down super PAC raised $30 million last month. DeSantis also has $82 million in his state political committee, which could be transferred to Never Back Down or another entity supporting him when DeSantis announces.

Trump caught lightning in a bottle in 2016. His surprise victory over Hillary Clinton redefined presidential politics and shook up a staid GOP. Since then, though, his record has been defined by one disappointment after another. From losing the White House to Joe Biden in 2020 to not one but two Senate races in Georgia to the political fallout from January 6 to this week’s indictment in New York, the Republican Party under Trump has struggled to regain its mojo. Republican primary voters must decide which of the two candidates can go the distance and accomplish their conservative policy priorities.

Do Republicans want to cut the deficit, strengthen the border, and win the global competition with China or settle old scores and “own the libs”? There may not be a consensus on the answer to that question today, but Republicans need to decide soon. One thing is sure; the GOP can’t afford to spend another cycle looking backward and arguing over the outcome of the 2020 election.

I’m a lifelong conservative likely to support the candidate who wins the GOP nomination regardless. That said, voting for a winner this time would be nice.

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Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a shadow presidential candidate, recently minimized the salience of continued U.S. support to Ukraine, portraying the Russian invasion of that country as a “territorial dispute” and claiming that it was not among “vital national interests” for the United States. He was roundly pilloried by other Republican candidates, hawkish Republican establishment politicians and, of course, Democrats as a rube, know-nothing governor with no foreign policy experience. 

Yet DeSantis’ position has some merit.

Although DeSantis is technically correct that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has devolved into a “territorial dispute,” that was not Vladimir Putin’s original intention. He intended for his military to waltz into Kyiv, take the country quickly and make Ukraine a puppet state, somewhat like he has with Belarus to its north. However, the Ukrainians chose to stymie that goal, fighting tenaciously and skillfully to repel grossly incompetent Russian forces. As a result, Putin has had to settle into what likely will be a protracted conflict in Ukraine’s east and southeast to salvage what territory the Russian invasion initially grabbed as Ukraine tries to claw it back.

However, DeSantis’ minimization of the brutal Russian invasion and current large-scale conflagration as a mere “territorial dispute,” although technically correct, is a gross underplaying of what is happening to the hundreds of thousands on both sides who have already died or been wounded. In short, the war in Ukraine is the largest conflict in Europe since World War II and thus could have important ramifications — although not necessarily for the United States.

Although the focus of the outrage was in reaction to DeSantis’ minimization of the conflict as a mere “territorial dispute,” his comment about the conflict not being among U.S. “vital national interests” was a more important point — because it is correct.

This is not 1945, in which Europe and East Asia smoldered in ruin after World War II, thus leaving the largely untouched United States representing half of the world’s gross domestic product. Now the overstretched United States accounts for less than 16 percent of the world’s GDP, yet 38 percent of global military spending; it has accumulated almost $32 trillion in national debt — a not insignificant part of which has been incurred in policing the world, including the long and largely unneeded wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia and others as part of the excessive global “war on terror.”

With China continuing to rise, the United States should not again get distracted — as it has been for almost two decades in the greater Middle East — on Ukraine.

Russia, as demonstrated by its massive bungling in Ukraine, is far less of a long-term conventional threat to the faraway United States than it is to the much closer countries of Europe. The wealthy Europeans, who combined have a larger GDP than the United States, should take over the military support for Ukraine — either by providing arms or funding their purchase — against a relatively poor Russia, which has a GDP less than that of Germany alone.

Because the United States can no longer afford to police the world, it should regard Europe as an “economy of force” theater, let the rich Europeans do more for their own security, and redirect even more attention and resources to Asia. The United States has been trying to “pivot to Asia” since the Obama administration, but it always gets distracted by the latest flare-ups elsewhere.

Although the Europeans will argue that they provide more economic aid to Ukraine than the United States, the United States is outstripping all the Europeans combined in military aid to that country. That is fine for the Europeans because temporary economic aid to Ukraine is cheaper than permanently building up their security capabilities to contain even a severely weakened Russia. Why increase spending on security when the United States is providing it?

Contrary to hysteria in the pundit class, DeSantis is correct that even if all of Ukraine fell to Russia, it would not affect vital U.S. security interests — during the Cold War, the United States lived with a Soviet Union that contained Ukraine — although it might make Europe very nervous. Even then, the Russian military had already been so depleted and exhausted by the Ukrainians that it should give the Europeans time to build up their militaries. Because Ukraine is not a vital U.S. security interest, the United States should at least demand that the Europeans take over the supply of military and economic aid to the Ukrainians.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis highlighted law and order and education during a President’s Day stop in Montgomery County.

Although DeSantis has not announced a 2024 GOP presidential primary bid, his day started with speeches in New York followed by his visit to the American Legion Post in Fort Washington, before heading on to Chicago.

Several hundred politically active Republicans and elected officials warmly applauded his remarks.

“We are the nation’s fastest-growing state,” DeSantis said of Florida. “That’s just people voting with their feet, and they’re not going to go to a place that’s not managed well, that’s not governed well, that’s not safe. We’re number one. I think every year since I’ve been governor in net in-migration.” Also, Florida is “number one in economic freedom, number one in new business formation…number one in GDP growth, number one in education freedom, number one in parental involvement in education.”

The state has lower taxes, no state income tax, and a record budget surplus.

While low taxes are a good reason to move to Florida, “our commitment to public safety and our support for the men and women in law enforcement” is also a major draw he said.

“People in southeast Pennsylvania have seen a lot of the disaster in places like Philadelphia, which we’ve seen in New York City, which used to be one of the safest big cities in the world. Then you look at Chicago, Seattle… In Florida, our crime rate is at a 50-year low. So how is it you have it going up in so many of these other areas?

“We’re not any better than anybody else. We just have good policies, and we have leaders that will stand behind the people that wear the uniform.”

DeSantis contrasted his approach to law enforcement with those advocating “defund the police” politics.

“You had major cities slashing police budgets, really for ideological reasons, not that it was proven it would help the public safety,” DeSantis said. And, he added, Florida gives a $5,000 incentive to officers who move there from other states, along with other benefits. Current officers received $1,000 bonuses.

When he saw the riots of 2020 DeSantis said, “Not on my watch,” and called up the national guard. He also got the state legislature to pass an anti-rioting bill to make sure violent protesters were prosecuted.

“If you riot, if you engage in mob violence in the state of Florida, it isn’t going to be like Portland, where they take your mugshot, slap you on the wrist, and put you back on the street to do it again. In Florida, you’re not getting a slap on the wrist. You’re getting the inside of a jail cell.” Also, there are additional penalties for assaulting a police officer. “I’m not going to have these officers just be sitting ducks.”

Unlike Florida, some big cities are “putting woke ideology ahead of public safety.” DeSantis’ arguments got a boost from the latest news out of Austin, Texas, where street racers took over multiple intersections across the city, using their vehicles to spin doughnuts in the streets and lighting fireworks. They left one police officer injured and damaged several squad cars. Austin slashed police spending by 30 percent in 2021 but has since reversed course.

“Just the contempt of some of these politicians attacking police was really a low point…It has absolutely painted a target on the back of people who wear the uniform. You see it in New York City. Unfortunately, we just saw it at Temple. And I think if somebody goes out and murders a police officer, they should get the death penalty.”

The audience applauded in response. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) announced last week he would not sign any death penalty warrants and is urging an end to the policy in the state.

In Florida, “we don’t have tolerance for prosecutors who get elected, largely with big contributions from leftists like George Soros…they say it’s their job to determine what laws should be enforced. Not you, the people who make laws through your elected legislators…these prosecutors are “a law unto themselves.”

He said he removed a prosecutor who refused to enforce the law.

DeSantis pivoted to education.

“If you send your kids to school in Florida, they’re going to get an education, not a political indoctrination,” said DeSantis. “Is it okay to tell a second grader they are born in the wrong body? In Florida, we think the answer to that question is no.”

“People that said this was going to hurt me in the election are very quiet after we won by 1.5 million votes,” he said. “We did tussle with Disney. They’d had for 60 years their own government that they operated and controlled in the state of Florida. Those days are over.”

“Then you also have things like critical race theory, where they try to racialize,” said DeSantis. “If you’re a young White kid they say, ‘You’re an oppressor.’ If you’re Black they say, ‘You’re oppressed.’ And this is just crazy that they want to do this.

“So we said no critical theory in K-12 schools. And some of this critical theory is teaching that police officers are just gunning down minorities with impunity.” It creates a hatred of law enforcement in young children, he said.

Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran introduced DeSantis.

“The police are the public, and the public are the police, and the public must have confidence in the police in order to be safe,” he said. “There must be accountability (for those who commit crimes).” While the suburban countries still adhere to that credo, many cities, including Philadelphia, do not, Harran added.

“Back when I took the test in 1986 (to become an officer), there were 1,400 people [taking the test]. Now we’re lucky if we get 100, 125.”

Afterward, Harran said he supported DeSantis “as the governor of Florida, and we’ll see what road the governor takes. Any comment (on supporting DeSantis for president) would be premature, but I like what I heard today.”

Upper Salford Area 3 GOP leader Kurt Stein said DeSantis has “a great message. And I think it resonates with everyone. We need law enforcement to be able to do their jobs without having district attorneys not obeying the laws of the state. And the most important things to people are schools and crime, and he hit all of that. Woke ideology is destroying the country our founding fathers created.”

State Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (R-Montgomery/Bucks) called DeSantis “impressive.”

“I think he has the right message at the right time,” said Rep. Craig Williams (R-Chadds Ford). “One thing we can do right now is stand up with our votes and say, ‘We support our police.’”

And Liz Havey, Montco Republican chair, said, “DeSantis talked about solutions and the crowd loved it. Law enforcement is critical to society and working with them and supporting them like Gov. DeSantis has helped Florida have a  record low crime rate–just the opposite of what we are living with in Philadelphia, where elected officials have done the opposite.”

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A group attempting to draft Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to run for president tells InsideSources it has gained 200,000 signatures.

The milestone for the Ready for Ron PAC launched in May comes on the cusp of oral arguments in the federal lawsuit against the Federal Elections Commission.

The Miami-based Ready for Ron organization expanded to Veterans Ready for Ron, led by 2016 Republican National Committee Vets director Bob Carey, and Students Ready for Ron, led by former Young Americans for Liberty field organizer Dylan Dean.

Carey, a Navy veteran, noted the support he found for DeSantis when attending the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia.

“A place I canvassed was the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia and this very vet-heavy crowd is very interested in Ron DeSantis,” Carey said. “We collected 200 signatures in three hours, me and a couple of other people tailgating. To put that in perspective, when I worked for the RNC, the goal would be to get 500 signatures over two days when you have six to eight people working.”

The oral arguments in the FEC case will be Feb. 22 in the District Court for the District of Columbia. The FEC denied Ready for Ron’s request to share the names of the petition singers with the possible DeSantis campaign.

“Nearly a quarter million people have already publicly engaged with and joined the effort,” Ready for Ron’s counsel Dan Backer, who is handling the case, said in a statement. “Signing the petition is the ultimate act of political free speech and association, and there is simply no basis for the FEC to stand in the way of Americans telling someone they want him to run for office, or that they continue to support him doing so.”

DeSantis — who has led former President Donald Trump in several polls when it’s a one-on-one contest but usually trails Trump in a multi-candidate field — isn’t expected to make a formal announcement about entering the presidential race until the Florida legislative session ends in mid-March.

Samantha Fauncher of Bedford, N.H., sees support for DeSantis in the first-in-the-nation primary state, but it’s not yet certain.

“There are still a lot of voters in New Hampshire that don’t quite have an opinion on Ron DeSantis yet,” Fauncher said. “It’s still early. But a lot of people have an unfavorable view of Trump, and what they know of DeSantis is positive.”

She noted that Republican candidates linked to Trump in the 2022 midterm elections were harmed. She also said New Hampshire voters are favorable to DeSantis issues such as school choice.

“DeSantis can have sway with a lot of the independent voters,” Fauncher said. “Trump is just going to keep getting beat down by the media and more people feel that Ron DeSantis represents them and can win in November.”

Many New Hampshire Republicans love Trump policies but believe DeSantis could be better positioned to deliver on those policies, said Pamela Tucker, a former deputy chair of the New Hampshire GOP.

“Republican voters want someone who can win with positive Republican policies,” Tucker said. “Governor DeSantis can win the primary here. He has the name recognition and people support his policies out of Florida.”

The only declared Republican presidential candidates are Trump and Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

“Americans are ready for Ron DeSantis,” said Ed Rollins, campaign manager for President Ronald Reagan’s 49-state landslide election in 1984, now the political strategist for Ready for Ron. “If he continues to govern as a bold conservative and enact pro-freedom policies, he will be poised to run for the Republican nomination and become the man to beat Joe Biden in 2024.”

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When  Gov. Ron DeSantis was in Philadelphia last week to receive an award at the Union League, protesters and much of the media led people to believe that when DeSantis is a racist.

They claimed that when DeSantis jousted with the College Board over what he saw as a very politicized advanced placement course on African American history, it was part of a pattern of disrespect and prejudice that the Florida governor exhibits toward Blacks.

Those people are unaware that Florida’s curriculum on race in America accurately, thoroughly, and in great detail requires schools in Florida to teach about the horrors of slavery.

Florida schools emphasize the Ocoee massacre, which occurred on November 2, 1920, in Ocoee, Fla. Thirty- five Black people were killed to stop Black people from voting. Most African American businesses and buildings were burned to the ground. This emphasis is similar to the national memorials on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre. Does that seem like DeSantis is hiding history?

Further, the Florida curriculum guidelines demand that schools teach, “The history and contributions of Americans of the African diaspora to society.” And also, “No person is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously, solely by his or her race or sex.” Every American should salute that statement. Are all schools teaching this?

Of course, the lies go well beyond DeSantis. People like pseudo-historian Don Lemon of CNN, the protesters in Philadelphia, and Nicole Hannah-Jones, author of “The 1619 Project,” to name a few, want Americas to believe that conservatives, many parents, and others don’t want the warts of American history to be taught to America’s kids.

I countercharge that many progressives don’t want the evolution and greatness of America to be taught. They don’t want kids to be told of the sacrifices of the Civil War that ended slavery. They don’t like to acknowledge how different the country is today. They do want kids to be taught that America is still a racist country.

This tendency is still exhibited by the Springfield Township commissioners in Montgomery County who recently banned a Thin Blue Line flag because a small number of people connected it to white supremacy.

I was told on my radio show that this woke positioning has already cost the township over $20,000 in various fees. Well, we broke the news on Friday that noted local attorney Wally Zimolong has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Springfield Township Police and the Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police to contend the banning is unconstitutional. Defending against this lawsuit is going to cost a lot more.

In the suit, Zimolong notes the Fraternal Order of Police has affirmed its support for using the Thin Blue  Line flag by law enforcement and the communities they represent. PA FOP believes that the Thin Blue Line flag represents the preservation of the rule of law, the protection of peace and freedom, the sacrifice of fallen enforcement officers, and the dedication of law enforcement officers.

This “wokeism” is expensive and, based on this suit, promotes a lot of antagonism toward police across the region. I know this action by Springfield Township has outraged my listeners in several ways.

More and more people nationally are becoming aware of both the silliness and danger presented by these woke disputes. DeSantis has challenged them and received resounding approval in Florida. I predict that he will benefit greatly by challenging them on a national level.

So, Philadelphia protesters, don’t put away your signs and outrage. This battle has just begun.

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Last week’s anticipated Red Wave wasn’t even a Red Puddle, and it could be argued, Pennsylvania was the GOP’s biggest disappointment of them all.

Pennsylvania Republicans didn’t flip a single seat in Congress, they lost a U.S. Senate seat, weren’t competitive in the governor’s race, and even handed over control of the state House of Representatives. All this at a time when Democrats were defending an unpopular president and a struggling economy.

I have three major reasons for the losses here in Pennsylvania and some solutions Republicans must adopt.

The first reason is spelled out in just two words: Doug Mastriano. Mastriano lost so badly that if you removed Philadelphia and Pittsburgh from the voting, Democrat Attorney General Josh Shapiro still beat him by 195,000 votes. How is that even possible?

In Lancaster County, Republican registered voters outnumber Democrats by 64,453. And yet Mastriano only beat Shapiro by 4,399, the smallest margin of any Republican gubernatorial nominee in modern history. Even Scott Wagner, the previous Republican nominee who got drubbed by Gov. Tom Wolf (D), won the county by a 6,189 margin.

In Bucks County around 40,000 fewer voters supported Mastriano than voted for winning Republican candidate Brian Fitzpatrick.

I got the first area radio or TV interview with Mastriano and eventually interviewed him five times during this election cycle. I liked the style of debate he proposed with Shapiro, in which each side would pick a moderator for each debate and basically allow the candidates to debate without the usual rules.

However, I had to beg Mastriano to bring his campaign to our area. It was also clear to me that there was no infrastructure to take on a force like Shapiro. When Mastriano announced he would not support any exceptions to a total ban on abortions in Pennsylvania, I knew any hope of a victory was dead, and I said so at the time.

No one will win a race for statewide office in Pennsylvania demanding a ban on all abortions without exception. Dave White, a candidate for governor who lost to Mastriano and someone I saw as a potential bridge to moderate Democrats, also says no exceptions should be allowed under an abortion ban.

If he maintains that position, he cannot win statewide.

The solution to the Mastriano problem is for the Republican State Committee to endorse candidates for statewide offices. That does not mean we can’t still have open primaries. But an endorsement and discussion might give the public more information and dissuade some candidates from staying in the race.

Pennsylvania Republicans should take a page from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) who allows for exceptions in the case of rape, incest, and the life of the mother under any abortion laws, and also move toward supporting a time limit on how many weeks an abortion can be performed within and be legal.

DeSantis might offer an antidote to the second major reason for Republican losses: President Donald Trump. What do Mastriano, Dr. Oz, Don Bolduc, Blake Masters, and Herschel Walker have in common? They all came in second last Tuesday, and they were all boosted by Trump. At a critical phase of the election, Trump inserted himself in our races and allowed Democrats to run against him. It worked.

DeSantis has gained tremendous traction against Trump due to his stunning victory in Florida. I’m not adverse to the two of them squaring off in the 2024 presidential primaries.

Finally, mail-in ballot issues are a major problem in Pennsylvania. I think Republicans have done a pretty good job in the last two years of stopping Democrats from exploiting flaws in the system around things like drop-box security, undated ballots, and counting procedures. However, they have given up the advantages of early voting entirely to the Democrats. Historically Republicans were at least as likely to vote by absentee as Democrats. It allows the parties to “bank” votes and focus their GOTV efforts on others.

In the Trump era, Republicans were attacking the idea of early voting — and now are paying the price for it. I think they have to do better to get more of their vote to effectively use mail-in balloting.

The reforms I’ve suggested are not monumentally hard to put into place. The first step is to acknowledge that these are significant issues. I don’t think abortion be the top issue in 2024, but again no statewide candidate will win if they don’t follow my method of addressing the issue.

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