Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called for Americans to “put on the armor of God” and promised to wage a war on “woke” ideology in schools, government and corporate boardrooms during a speech to a gathering of conservatives in Washington.
(Bloomberg) — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called for Americans to “put on the armor of God” and promised to wage a war on “woke” ideology in schools, government and corporate boardrooms during a speech to a gathering of conservatives in Washington.
“We are going to leave woke ideology in the dust bin of history — where it belongs,” DeSantis, who is running a distant second to former President Donald Trump in polls of Republican presidential primary contenders, told attendees of the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual policy conference on Friday.
DeSantis stressed his efforts to defend religious freedom as governor, including by keeping churches open during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We’re proud we’ve been able to and will continue to stand for religious liberty,” he said. “This is a time to proudly put on the full armor of God.”
DeSantis’s speech, which followed remarks from several other GOP presidential candidates, was greeted with enthusiastic cheers and more than one standing ovation from a pro-Trump crowd that met some other candidates with tepid applause or jeers.
Still, the Florida governor faces an uphill battle to wrest Trump’s grip on the party, and much will hinge on his performance in early nominating states. Appearances at events like the Faith and Freedom summit give him a chance to make in-roads with the party base — whose support he will need if he’s going to emerge as a viable alternative to Trump — and could help quell questions as to whether he’s comfortable schmoozing with voters face-to-face.
Read more: DeSantis Seeks to Connect With Iowans as Trump Alternative
Support for DeSantis among voters nationwide rose 5 percentage points from April, while backing for Trump — who was indicted this month on federal charges related to his handling of secret documents — fell 3 percentage points, according to an Emerson College poll released Thursday.
Yet DeSantis trails Trump by 31 points nationally in the RealClearPolitics average of early polls.
Wooing the Base
DeSantis has aligned himself with the far right flank of the party on cultural matters — namely abortion, LGBTQ rights, and how public schools teach about race and gender — and he’s embroiled in a high-profile fight with Walt Disney Co.
In a video introduction to his remarks Friday, DeSantis touted his record on those issues and his efforts to stand up for parental rights and take on “woke corporations.”
DeSantis, who rarely discuses abortion on the stump, only briefly touched on the subject Friday, saying his decision to sign legislation banning abortion after six weeks was “the right thing to do.”
Read more: DeSantis Taunt in Disney Typeface Tempts Trademark Punchback
“The left is lighting the fire of a cultural revolution, all across this land,” he said. “The fire smolders in our schools. It smolders in corporate boardrooms, it smolders in the halls of government.
“We did not start this fire, but as president of the United States I will lead the effort to extinguish the fire of cultural Marxism once and for all, all across this country,” he added.
DeSantis also said he would defend the conservative Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito from what he called “scurrilous attacks.” The two have been the center of ethics controversies over accepting gifts and travel from wealthy Republican donors that they did not disclose.
Riffing on Roe
Friday’s event was a cattle call for Republican presidential candidates, who sought to burnish their credentials on social issues. Promises to bar transgender women from women’s sports and to ban transitioning procedures for minors were a common theme.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy said the US faced a litany of social ills, listing “wokism, transgenderism, climatism, covidism, globalism, depression, anxiety, drug abuse, suicide.”
Unlike DeSantis, other contenders anchored their message around the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed nationwide abortion rights.
Former Vice President Mike Pence implored all candidates to support a ban on abortions after a pregnancy reaches 15 weeks. And he rebutted those, like Trump, who argue the Dobbs decision simply returned the issue to the states, that six-week bans are “too harsh” or that the Republican position cost the party congressional seats in 2022.
“The president and I have had our differences but I believe elections are about the future. And different times call for different leadership,” said Pence.
Pence got polite applause, but North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson got one of the biggest cheers of the day when he used the stage to endorse Trump. “This nation needs a fighter,” he said.
Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, said he would continue to ensure that taxpayer funds are not used to support abortions.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie received applause when he nodded to his anti-abortion record. But Christie was booed when he attacked his former ally Trump for never admitting when he was wrong.
“I’m running because he’s let us down,” he said, as the heckling and booing got louder.
“You can boo all you want. But here’s the thing. Our faith teaches us that people need to take responsibility for what they do,” Christie said. “You can love him all you want, but I will tell you that doing those kinds of things makes our country smaller.”
(Updates to add quotes from DeSantis, details on other speeches from 14th paragraph)
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