Category Archives: Ron DeSantis

Mem Fox book Guess What? banned in Florida county under Ron DeSantis bill

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Agent for bestselling Australian children’s author says she has ‘nothing to say’ about the ban and Duval county ‘is not important’

Bestselling Australian author Mem Fox has become the latest victim of ultra-conservative Florida governor Ron DeSantis, with the writer’s 1988 children’s book Guess What? being banned in the Jacksonville county of Duval.

The book, about a witch called Daisy O’Grady, appears to have fallen foul of Florida’s parental rights in education bill, widely referred to as the “don’t say gay” law, championed by DeSantis, the Republican widely considered to be Donald Trump’s closest rival for the 2024 presidential race.

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DeSantis secures endorsements on visit to Iowa in preparation for likely 2024 bid

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Florida governor lands in crucial early-voting state in Republican nomination process after weeks of lagging behind Trump

Florida’s rightwing governor, Ron DeSantis, has rolled out a hefty list of endorsements from Iowa lawmakers as he visited the crucial early-voting state on Saturday in an attempt to garner support for his potential Republican presidential campaign.

The pro-DeSantis Super Pac Never Back Down announced endorsements from 37 Republican Iowa state senators and representatives, including the Iowa senate president, Amy Sinclair, and the state house majority leader, Matt Windschitl.

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Florida’s rightwing governor Ron DeSantis backs Kemi Badenoch’s ‘war on woke’

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Republican expected to run for nomination supports UK business secretary’s attempt to stop the left ‘corrupting British society’

Florida’s rightwing governor, Ron DeSantis, has backed UK business secretary Kemi Badenoch in taking on what he calls “the woke”.

DeSantis, who is expected to challenge Donald Trump for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election, met Badenoch and foreign secretary James Cleverly on a visit to London this week.

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Florida school superintendent who criticized DeSantis could lose job

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Rocky Hanna is accused of ignoring Florida governor’s directives in latest move against those who oppose Republicans’ politics

Florida officials are threatening to revoke the teaching license of a school superintendent who criticized the governor, Ron DeSantis.

The educator is accused of violating several statutes and DeSantis directives and allowing his “personal political views” to guide his leadership.

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Ron DeSantis says Disney lawsuit a political stunt with no merit

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Florida governor attempting to weaken Disney’s self-governing powers after entertainment giant opposed his ‘don’t say gay’ law

Disney’s lawsuit over his attempt to seize its self-governing powers is a political stunt with no legal merit, the increasingly embattled hard-right Florida governor Ron DeSantis, told reporters on Thursday.

“I don’t think the suit has merit,” the likely Republican White House hopeful said, adding: “The days of putting one company on a pedestal with no accountability are over in the state of Florida.”

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Disney sues Ron DeSantis in battle over control of Florida resort

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Entertainment giant wants court to overturn governor’s efforts to exert control over Walt Disney World theme parks in Orlando

Disney sued Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida and presumed challenger for the Republican presidential nomination, on Wednesday, saying he had subjected it to “a targeted campaign of government retaliation”.

The entertainment giant wants a court to overturn state efforts to exert control over Walt Disney World in Orlando. The lawsuit was filed within minutes of a DeSantis-appointed oversight board voting to override agreements made in February that allowed the company to expand the theme park and maintain control over neighboring land.

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DeSantis to meet UK foreign secretary with eye on US presidential bid

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Florida governor lines up four-nation tour in attempt to boost credentials as credible leader on world stage

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, is to meet the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, in London at the end of the month as he attempts to burnish his credentials as a credible Republican leader capable of operating on a global stage ahead of a widely expected run for US president.

He is to lead a Florida trade delegation on a four-nation tour taking in Japan, South Korea, Israel and the UK.

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Ron DeSantis threatens prison near Disney theme park in latest retaliation

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After being humiliated by its outgoing board, the Florida governor has hit upon another idea to punish the company

Ron DeSantis has unveiled the latest act of retaliation against Disney for speaking out against his “don’t say gay” law: he’s threatening to build a new state prison next to the company’s central Florida theme parks.

The Republican governor dropped the suggestion at a hastily convened Monday lunchtime press conference, at which he laid out steps the state legislature would take to try to regain control over Florida’s largest private employer.

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Republican donor pauses Ron DeSantis funding over abortion and book banning

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Thomas Peterffy says Florida governor ‘seems to have lost some momentum’ in undeclared bid for 2024 presidential nomination

A top Republican donor said he had paused plans to fund Ron DeSantis’s expected presidential run because of the Florida governor’s “stance on abortion and book banning”.

Thomas Peterffy, founder of Interactive Brokers, a digital trading platform, told the Financial Times: “I have put myself on hold. Because of his stance on abortion and book banning … myself, and a bunch of friends, are holding our powder dry.”

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Ron DeSantis signs bill approving six-week abortion ban in Florida

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Bill gives governor key political victory ahead of expected presidential campaign

The Republican-dominated Florida legislature on Thursday approved a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a proposal supported by the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, as he prepares for an expected presidential run.

DeSantis, a Republican, later signed the bill into law. “We are proud to support life and family in the state of Florida,” he said in a statement. Florida currently prohibits abortions after 15 weeks.

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DeSantis pleads with Florida Congress members to stop endorsing Trump

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Governor phones representatives, dismayed that four members of delegation have backed former president for 2024 nomination

The soft launch of Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign appears to be stuttering further after a report emerged claiming Florida’s Republican governor was calling members of the state’s congressional delegation to persuade them to stop endorsing Donald Trump.

DeSantis has yet to formally declare his pursuit of his party’s 2024 nomination, but has seen an erosion in recent weeks of his formerly strong support, with Trump pulling further ahead in polling.

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Viktor Orbán’s support for Trump seems to wane as ally meets with DeSantis

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Hungarian PM previously backed Trump but meetings between Katalin Novák and DeSantis camp suggest he’s hedging his bets

Hungary’s far-right prime minister, Viktor Orbán, one of Donald Trump’s biggest international supporters, has made overtures in recent weeks to Ron DeSantis and one of the Florida governor’s key billionaire backers.

Orbán has repeatedly voiced strong support for Trump’s policies and political style even long after the former president left the White House. But meetings between a key Orbán ally and the DeSantis camp suggest the Hungarian leader is hedging his bets amid uncertainty over Trump’s electoral prospects.

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Democrats bid to use censorship law against DeSantis and ban his book

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Opponents say memoir The Courage to be Free, published in February, violates law governor signed last year

Democrats in Florida are attempting to use a state law that censors books in public schools against the governor who signed it, Ron DeSantis, by asking schools to review or ban the Republican governor’s own book, The Courage to be Free.

“The very trap he set for others is the one that he set for himself,” Fentrice Driskell, the Democratic minority leader in the Florida state house, told the Daily Beast.

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Disney chief Bob Iger calls Ron DeSantis ‘anti-business and anti-Florida’

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CEO’s comments are latest round in bitter feud between governor and state’s largest corporate employer over ‘don’t say gay’ law

Disney’s chief executive, Bob Iger, has lambasted the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, as “anti-business and anti-Florida” in the latest round of a bitter public battle between the Sunshine state’s most powerful corporation and its top elected official.

DeSantis and his Republican allies in the state legislature have targeted Walt Disney World, the Orlando-area entertainment resort that employs 75,000 people, since the company spoke out against the controversial Florida “don’t say gay” law curtailing classroom discussion of gender identity and sexuality amid mounting pressure from its employees to take a stand.

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Florida closes in on six-week abortion ban while also allowing no-permit gun carry

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Abortion legislation needs to move through house before gaining DeSantis’s likely signature while gun-carry law enacted today

Florida took another step to the right on Monday when the state senate approved a bill to ban abortions after six weeks, a measure supported by Republican governor and expected presidential candidate Ron DeSantis – who on the same day signed into law a bill allowing the public to carry concealed guns without a permit.

The latest proposal to restrict reproductive rights must still be approved by the house in the state legislature before it reaches the governor’s desk. Florida currently prohibits abortions after 15 weeks.

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DeSantis hits Republican poll low as Trump tightens grip on primary

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Florida governor repeats criticism of Trump in Fox Nation interview as he attempts delicate balancing act

Donald Trump may be in legal trouble over his alleged weakness for vice, but his predicament is increasingly placing Ron DeSantis – his chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination – in a political vise.

The Florida governor must join Republican attacks on Alvin Bragg, the Democratic Manhattan district attorney whose indictment of Trump over a hush money payment to a porn star is reportedly imminent, while trying not to lose ground in a primary he has not formally entered.

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Trump-appointed judge seems open to arguments against abortion pill – live

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Federal judge in Texas holds hearing on status of mifepristone, which a far-right group claims is unsafe despite FDA approval

The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports that a federal prosecutor has unveiled an indictment against a Chinese tycoon tied to Steve Bannon and other top allies of Donald Trump. Here’s what we know so far about the charges:

Ho Wan Kwok, a Chinese tycoon with close links to prominent Trumpist Republicans including Steve Bannon, has been indicted on 12 counts relating to an alleged $1bn fraud.

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DeSantis opposes US aid to Ukraine as Republican presidential race intensifies – live

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Likely contender’s statement read on air by Fox News host Tucker Carlson aligns him with rival Donald Trump

Here’s Ron DeSantis’s full statement outlining his position on Ukraine, as posted by Tucker Carlson:

Other big Republican names responded to the Fox News commentator’s questionnaire, including Texas governor Greg Abbott, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, former vice president Mike Pence and, of course, Donald Trump.

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Ron DeSantis visits Iowa as Republican 2024 race heats up – as it happened

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Joe Biden continues his attacks on the GOP’s far right wing. Following his remarks earlier on this month’s strong jobs figures, he’s taken to Twitter.

“Extreme Maga [Make America Great Again] House Republicans are showing us what they value: tax breaks for the rich. They demand the biggest Medicare benefits cut in decades, ship jobs overseas, defund law enforcement, devastate our national and border security. It’s a gut punch to the middle class,” the US president tweeted earlier this afternoon.

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Ron DeSantis visits Iowa as presidential bid speculation intensifies

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Rightwing governor of Florida – and most likely rival to Trump for the 2024 nomination – promotes his book in the early voting state

The Republican Ron DeSantis greeted fans in Iowa on Friday, marking the Florida governor’s first visit this election cycle to the early voting state and intensifying speculation over when he might announce his 2024 presidential bid.

DeSantis delivered remarks to a full crowd at a casino in Davenport on Friday morning, and later appeared in Des Moines with the governor of Iowa, Republican Kim Reynolds, to promote his new book, The Courage to be Free.

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