ORLANDO, Fla. — Declaring that “Florida has defeated Fauci-ism” and condemning the “scientific and technical elite,” Gov. Ron DeSantis kicked off CPAC in Orlando on Thursday, where some of America’s most prominent conservatives gathered for four days of schmoozing and speeches.
“We need people all over the country to be willing to put on that full armor of God to stand firm against the left,” DeSantis said. “I can tell you this: In Florida, we will be standing our ground. We will be holding that line. We are not going to back down. ... We have only begun to fight.”
One thing the Republican governor did not mention was Russia’s attack on Ukraine, despite speaking at the same time President Joe Biden addressed the nation about the crisis.
The governor is not the most high-profile speaker scheduled at the Conservative Political Action Conference held at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort, however. Former President Donald Trump is returning to Orlando for its second year of CPAC on Saturday.
DeSantis was preceded on stage by his own hype video. The governor also threw caps into the cheering crowd.
His speech contained much of his rhetoric over the last year, calling Florida “the freest state in the U.S.” for its lack of COVID restrictions and anti-vaccine mandate policies. The pandemic has killed 69,000 Floridians and infected millions more.
DeSantis said the state prevented a “Fauci-ist utopia,” referring to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and added, “had Florida not led the way, this country would look like Canada or Australia.” He cited the two countries as examples of nations “chafing under authoritarian rule all across the world.”
DeSantis earned a win in Tallahassee shortly before his speech, with the House passing his “anti-woke” bill, which would prohibit teachings and training that make people “feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress” for past wrongs committed by others of their “race, color, sex or national origin.”
“Major institutions in our country have become infected with this woke virus,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis also cited his banning of sanctuary cities in Florida, despite there being no sanctuary cities at the time; his controversial election law, despite having praised the state’s process in 2020; and his attempt to ban critical race theory in K-12 schools, where it has not been taught.
DeSantis said Biden “just hates Florida,” claiming the president was trying to “take our medication,” a reference to the Food and Drug Administration dropping two antibody treatments for COVID-19 that he championed, even though the drugmakers themselves conceded they are ineffective against omicron.
DeSantis “brought life” to CPAC, said Francis Piliere, of Virginia, moments after the governor’s remarks. Piliere is attending his fourth CPAC gathering, along with his sister Margaret Bogardus of St. Petersburg.
The two credited DeSantis for not mandating masks in Florida as COVID-19 raged throughout the past two years, and not bowing to pressure to impose stricter rules to contain the virus.
“I’ve had visitors come down from up North and they’re so amazed they can walk around and be free and not be pressured to conform,” she said.
But Bogardus said she’s not eager for DeSantis to pursue higher office, as news reports and rumors have swirled about his White House ambitions, even as Trump has hinted he might run again in 2024.
“He’s young, so he’s got a couple more years. I think (DeSantis) can go in 2028,” she said. “We want him here in Florida for as long as we can keep him.”
John England, a South Carolinian with a home in Orlando, said he wanted DeSantis over Trump in 2024.
“Trump’s a businessman, and he was a good president, but he didn’t hold his words,” England said. “Which I like, but the American public doesn’t like. ... I think DeSantis should run.”
England said Trump’s comments in the last few days praising Putin as “savvy” and “genius” for his attack on Ukraine were an example of Trump’s liabilities.
“Trump’s a New York businessman,” England said. “He’s brash, he just damn ‘New York.’ ... The flyover states want somebody more calm and don’t want the businessman they say they want.
While there was no giant golden statue of Trump this year — artist Tommy Zegan’s “Super Trump” statue was held up in customs — the Rosen Shingle Creek resort’s hallways were filled with conservative broadcasters from the mainstream to the fringe.
On stage before DeSantis, radio host Charlie Kirk said he wanted an “extinction event for the woke left.” He also got applause for proclaiming, “the southern border matters a lot more than the Ukraine border ... (and) cities 5,000 miles away and places you can’t find on a map.”
In advance of CPAC, an anti-Trump group called the Republican Accountability Project announced it was placing more than 100 billboards all around Central Florida to try to counterprogram the conference.
“I wouldn’t recognize today’s GOP. Reagan wouldn’t either,” reads one billboard quoting Nancy, a former Republican from Colorado.
CPAC, normally held in the Washington, D.C., area, moved to Orlando for the first time last year after Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan imposed COVID restrictions.
Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union that holds CPAC, said Thursday he was told by Hogan that holding CPAC amid the pandemic would kill people.
He said he responded, “I’ll be damned if we’re going to have a panic over this virus,” and immediately decided to bring the event to Florida.
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