Joseph Sabino Mistick: DeSantis is no Reagan

Why are so many big politicians acting so small? There are plenty of opportunities for them to think big and act big, but lately some politicians are stuck on those things that will grab some headlines but have little to do with the future of America. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is not the only one, but he is Exhibit A.

As the war in Ukraine rages on — with Russian crimes against humanity showing up on evening news nightly — DeSantis has minimized the Ukrainian fight as “a territorial dispute.”

As the Wall Street Journal editorialized on Wednesday, “… what if Russia swallows all or most of Ukraine? Mr. Putin will then set up shop closer to the Polish border and be even stronger as a malign force in Europe. The U.S. will be drawn deeper into the continent’s problems, not free to focus on the threat posed by China.”

So why is DeSantis saying that “becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia” is not a vital national interest? This is shallow and dangerous.

When Silicon Valley Bank collapsed March 10, there was a real possibility that there would be a run on banks nationwide. Leadership was necessary to calm depositors. President Biden stepped up, and the Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and FDIC announced that depositors’ funds would be guaranteed. The Justice Department started an investigation.

DeSantis, who voted as a congressman to cut the oversight of smaller banks like SVB, blamed the collapse on wokeness and “diversity, equity and inclusion” efforts. “This bank, they’re so concerned with DEI and politics and all kinds of stuff, I think that really diverted from them focusing on their core mission,” he told Fox News.

DeSantis still brags about filling chartered airplanes with misled Venezuelan asylum seekers and flying them to Martha’s Vineyard last year to show that he is tough on immigration. To him they were election season political props, not fellow human beings in need of kindness and a helping hand.

Then, while speaking at the Ronald Reagan Library on March 5, DeSantis had the gall to say he is “governing according to the tried and true principles that President Reagan held dear.”

In his last speech as president, Reagan said, “Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier. This quality is vital to our future as a nation. If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”

While other national leaders are debating and dealing with the big issues that affect Americans, DeSantis is a barrow full of petty grievances and meanness, a big politician with small ideas.

He busies himself banning books and trying to eliminate Florida’s Black college fraternities and sororities. He calls slavery the “enslavement experience.” He went after Disney World after it opposed his bill that restricts discussion of gender identity in schools. And his administration has told Florida school officials to ignore federal guidelines designed to protect transgender students.

DeSantis doesn’t know anything about Ronald Reagan. Reagan said, “America is, and always will be, a shining city on a hill.” Ron DeSantis is no Ronald Reagan.