Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is serious about restoring executive branch agencies and rebuilding trust with the American people who have been shocked and appalled at the weaponization of government by the Biden administration (and before that, by the Obama administration).
The federal government, specifically the executive branch alphabet agencies, has been completely corrupted by the Obama-Biden and now the Biden-Harris administrations. We all know it, and we are all disgusted and disheartened by the myriad ways the Obama administration targeted political opponents.
That’s why Trump’s 2016 campaign cry to “Drain the swamp” was so potent. We knew the depth and breadth of the corruption, the partisan banana republic-style attacks on political opponents, and we wanted it stopped.
Unfortunately, Trump was not able to drain the swamp at all, not even a little bit, so when Biden took office in 2021, he just got to work picking up Obama’s attacks on dissent with the deep state still fully embedded throughout the executive branch (having spent the intervening years openly working as “the Resistance” to Trump’s—the duly-elected president’s—agenda). Indeed, Biden ramped this up and started attacking individual Americans: parents, pro-life activists, J6 paraders, members of the right media, even random social media users.
Having served in Congress during the Obama years and served as governor of Florida during the Trump presidency and Biden’s residency, DeSantis is well aware of these unAmerican actions against Democrats’ political opposition. He is also, it seems to me, uniquely qualified to dismantle the entire mess and get things back on track that can be salvaged and demolish what cannot.
DeSantis lays out some of his proposed actions should he win the GOP nomination and then the general. These include everything from removing the worst offenders (like the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, whose appointment by Trump was among his worst personnel selections, and that’s saying something), firing career federal employees who have demonstrated political bias and a partisan agenda, revoking security clearances of former federal employees, moving entire agencies out of DC, and putting a stop to federal interference with Americans’ right to free speech, association, and religion (i.e. stop the “misinformation” lunacy).
Republican presidential hopeful and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has vowed to fire any Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who harasses a pro-life activist if elected in 2024.In an interview with former Fox News opinion host Tucker Carlson at the Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, DeSantis was asked about holding federal government employees accountable for their actions.DeSantis replied that there are “levers that you can pull” to have accountability in the federal government, adding that “I think we can fire” any federal bureaucrat who acts badly.“If we have an FBI agent going to harass a pro-life activist like they did Mark Houck and send a SWAT team, I’d fire them immediately,” he declared, receiving applause.“When you have FBI colluding with big tech to censor dissent, I would fire those people. Had I been president [in] 2020, Anthony Fauci would have been fired. And you’ve got to be willing to do it.”
Breaking up offending agencies, particularly the DOJ, and shipping its various parts all over the country is an important of DeSantis’ plan.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been working for months on plans to tear down and rebuild both the Department of Justice and the FBI, consulting with experts and members of Congress to develop a “Day One” strategy to end what conservatives see as the weaponization of the justice system.The governor has privately told advisors that he will hire and fire plenty of federal personnel, reorganize entire agencies, and execute a “disciplined” and “relentless” strategy to restore the Justice Department to a mission more in line with what the “Founding Fathers envisioned.”But his ambitions go beyond bureaucratic restructuring. He wants to physically remove large swathes of the DOJ from the District of Columbia, including FBI headquarters, RealClearPolitics is first to report.“We’re not going to let all this power accumulate in Washington, we’re going to break up these agencies,” DeSantis said during a private strategy session over the weekend, excerpts of which were obtained exclusively by RCP. He vowed in that call to order “some of the problematic components of the DOJ” be uprooted, reorganized, and then promptly “shipped to other parts of the country.”This fits with one of the central themes of the DeSantis campaign, namely that he’d be “an energetic executive,” a president with the focus and attention to detail necessary to make the most of his Article II powers. On the stump, the governor regularly wins applause from primary voters for promising not just to wage war on the so-called deep state, but to end it.
Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air has more:
The swamp didn’t get drained in 2017, and there’s a reason why. Carlson asks Ron DeSantis what he plans to do with the FBI and Christopher Wray, and DeSantis offers what has become the mainstream GOP position — fire leadership “on Day One,” move the HQ, and so on. But to fight the bureaucratic state, you have to prepare for a lot more on Day One. Not only do you need to have your own team ready at that time, but you also need people who will stand up to popular criticism.DeSantis pledges an administration staffed by appointees with the moral strength of Clarence Thomas.. . . . This answer goes well beyond “a new director of the FBI,” and it is a direct (if sotto voce) contrast with Trump’s track record. For the first two years of Trump’s presidency, his administration left hundreds of appointments unfilled, leaving a vacuum for careerists to fill without any supervision. His team at the time argued that the strategy was deliberate, and intended to shrink the “deep state,” but all it did was allow it to operate unchecked. And where Trump did fill positions, he largely filled them with choices who turned out to be poorly considered. Don’t take my word for that, either; Trump spends most of the time complaining about and insulting the people he himself hired.. . . . It’s the difference between sloganeering and governing. It takes organizational skill, a good network of candidates for the positions, and a leader with a clear and detailed vision of swamp-draining to succeed. The bureaucratic state will not retreat just in the face of bluster and threats. Only specific, consistent authority and accountability will work.
There is a huge difference between sloganeering and governing, and while Trump excels at the former, DeSantis excels at the latter.
Indeed, according to reports, Team DeSantis has been working for months on a plan to reConstitutionalize the federal government.
Reports suggest that DeSantis has been working on his plan for months, collaborating with members of Congress such as Representatives Thomas Massie and Chip Roy, as well as organizations like the Heritage Foundation and the Hoover Institution. His approach to dismantling what he called the “deep state” involves acting swiftly through the executive branch, in lieu of congressional approval. Unlike some federal positions, such as FBI director or Attorney General, DeSantis does not believe certain federal employees are immune from having their employment terminated by the president.. . . . Among those DeSantis aims to shake off include “the intelligence and national security class” often employed as paid cable news contributors after leaving public service. The governor already has a list of security clearances to be revoked: the more than 50 former senior intelligence officials who signed a public letter ahead of the 2020 election claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian a disinformation campaign.As Governor DeSantis continues to run his presidential campaign, his plans to reshape and “re-constitutionalize” the executive branch are timely as Americans watch the DOJ’s indictment and continued investigations against his GOP primary rival, former President Trump.
It’s a safe bet that DeSantis is wise (and savvy) enough not to put all his cards on the table prior to taking office, so you can be sure that he has a lot more in store for the corrupt “resistance” deep state and its lawless enablers.
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