Ron DeSantis became the governor of Florida January 8th, 2019. Notable things he has done since then have been creating the Don’t Say Gay law, kidnapping immigrants, banning the AP African studies course, and also banning other forms of education, also known as books. 

July 1st, 2022 is the day that DeSantis first became a nationally known name. He accomplished this by creating the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law, or what he calls the Parental Rights in Education law. This law says that teachers are not allowed to discuss sexual orientation or gender identities in the classroom because according to DeSantis, talking about who people are and respecting that is pushing a political agenda on innocent children. 

September 20th, 2022 was the second time DeSantis was all over the news when he illegally moved immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard. The immigrants didn’t know where they were going, only that they were going to be given a better life. This was proved false when they arrived at Martha’s Vineyard with no preparation for it. 

(To read more about the Don’t Say Gay Law and DeSantis moving the immigrants check out a story that was previously published titled “What is going on in Florida” by Madeline Beatty).

January 25th, 2023 DeSantis came back once again to the news and outwardly stated his issues with the new AP course that College Board announced called AP African American Studies. According to DeSantis, learning about African American studies is part of “pushing an agenda on our kids.” According to Ritchie Torres “Florida has gone from Don’t Say Gay to Don’t Say Black.” Although according to himself, DeSantis “believe[s] in education, not indoctrination”, he still seems to be arguing that what teachers teach about history should be straight and white, just like him. 

Book banning has been a hot topic in many conversations for what seems like forever. Many states have been “book banning” over the years, but one of the most recent states which came into the news for it was Florida. The book banning happening in Florida goes along with the “Don’t Say Gay” Law, in the way that it’s made to stop the children from seeing, hearing, or knowing about certain things. There has to be a word for stopping someone from obtaining necessary knowledge… What is it? Censorship? Suppression? Bowdlerization? Indoctrination?

It was not nearly enough to only purge the libraries of the schools in Florida, but DeSantis also made it so kids can no longer bring their own books from home to school in fear that they may contain “agendas” to be further pushed on children. After all, DeSantis really only wants to protect the children, and having the freedom of reading and knowledge is really only harming them. Although DeSantis has talked a lot about limiting the amount of knowledge kids should be given, he still says that “education is about the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of ideology or the advancement of a political agenda.”

Besides all of the other things he has already done, in a speech DeSantis gave on March 6th 2023, he said the words “you ain’t seen anything yet.” This only proves to the rest of the world, especially Florida, that he has barely started his chaotic reign, this also sets him up for his potential run for the 2024 presidency. 

Although the election may seem far away, people are already speculating who are going to be the party nominations. Which are (on the Republican side) Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, and Nikki Haley. Although the country has already seen what Donald Trump did in office, according to cnbc.com “Trump [has] got 46% support among a hypothetical group of candidates, compared with 32% for DeSantis.” However these are just speculations until DeSantis announces if he’s running or not. Even with the three potential candidates, the Republican party representative for the 2024 election is not a choice between good and bad, but rather it’s a choice between who is less worse; DeSantis or Trump, if these are the two candidates that the G.O.P. has to choose between.