FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis has sold himself as a warrior against “COVID theater,” championed and got the Legislature to pass his “Stop WOKE Act,” and pushed the narrative that his leadership has produced the “free state of Florida.”
A master political messenger, DeSantis is adept at wielding concise, easy-to-digest phrases, crafted to sound popular and resonate with his political base in Florida — and across the country — as he contemplates a run for president. A side benefit (for him) is frustrating his critics.
In recent months, however, he and other Republicans have found themselves in an unfamiliar place: on the political defensive as a result of adept messaging that originated with LGBTQ activists.
