American Bridge 21st Century, one of the most important research, tracking, and propaganda companies used by the Democratic Party, is located in New York. It released 500 pages of opposition research this week about the potential presidential candidate and Florida Governor. Ron DeSantis. AB2C launched a website that catalogs its fears and smears.
This trove of intelligence and counterintelligence may provide Democrats with unifying themes to campaign against or for, but the resultant DeSantis caricature also provides insight into his perceived strengths and how he might make use of them in 2024.
AB2C summarized its concerns and projections as follows: “Who’s Ron DeSantis?” He is a failed governor. He is a threat to Medicare and Social Security. He is a corrupt, authoritarian career politician and a policy extremist who has lost touch with voters on all issues.
Researchers accusing DeSantis are aware of his failures, authoritarian tendencies, and disconnect from voters. He won his second gubernatorial race with almost 60% of the vote, which is nearly 20 points more than his Democratic opponent. Only five of the remaining counties, Miami-Dade included, changed or remained red.
According to the most recent Mason-Dixon Florida Poll, 59% of registered voters approve of DeSantis as governor.
According to the latest Marquette Law School Poll, Trump and Biden would each get 38% of votes in a matchup. In a matchup between Biden, Trump, and DeSantis, however, the Florida governor would get 42% and the president 41%.
Researchers are likely to be aware of the fact that DeSantis’ accusation that he is a “career political” may not resonate with voters who are cognizant that DeSantis served in Iraq as a Navy lieutenant, and advisor to SEAL Team One.
Like previous opposition research dossiers in the past, AB2C seems less objective and more rhetorical. This is especially true since most of the premises that drive along this line of a bumbling authority do not stand up under scrutiny.
The dossier claims that DeSantis was a failed governor and that he “played politics” with Floridians’ lives during the pandemic.
AB2C claims that DeSantis spread misinformation about COVID-19. This includes that getting boosted could increase the likelihood of people getting COVID-19. Masking in schools was ineffective. The state was also overcounting COVID-19 death, and that natural immunity was the best method to combat COVID-19.
If Democrats continue to repeat these talking points, they might have to overlook the studies and reports which have supported many of DeSantis’ assertions.
DeSantis’ support for school choice and parental rights is also portrayed in the dossier as a failure. It claims it helped to ensure low teacher salaries, teacher shortages, and diverting funds from public schools to private schools.
The section that claimed DeSantis was a failure contained a list of many laws DeSantis drafted and/or ratified. This included those related to the pandemic or waking up in schools. This record may have been included to support the researcher’s counterpoint argument, evidencing Governor DeSantis’ efficacy.
One of those was legislation.
- Protecting the unborn
- Require abortionists for parental consent before committing any crime against a minor pregnant.
- It is a crime for doctors to medically inseminate patients without their consent.
- Eliminating the authority of the state health officer to impose vaccine mandates in a public emergency.
- Increasing penalties for terroristic threats or making death online;
- Recognizing domestic violence as a public threat to health;
- Preventing rapists from being denied bail during a post-trial motion, appeal, or motion;
- Criminalizing the use of sexually explicit deep fakes or revenge porn;
- Other bills are also popular among the citizens.
While the governor’s COVID leadership and support for parental rights may not be as impressive as AB2C portrays them to be, some opponents find the dossier’s subsection about Florida housing prices to be a problem.
Florida was not included in Forbes’ September 2022 list, which listed the top 15 states with the highest average home prices. However, the Tampa Bay Times reported that the cost of renting or buying a house has risen faster than in most other states.
The Times reported that DeSantis had “largely ignored” the affordable housing crisis in his first term.
DeSantis seems to have tried to correct this alleged blind spot in his second term. He has endorsed legislation to fix the problem.
Republicans’ $ 711 million plan to build more affordable housing and encourage new construction with tax breaks, interest-free loans, and tax credits is part of the solution. The legislation was passed late last month.
AB2C tries to portray DeSantis simultaneously as tyrannical and bumbling, intellectually inflexible, and a flip-flopper.
The researchers found that the Florida governor is capable of simultaneously making an example out of the Walt Disney Corporation, which tried to defeat a bill supporting parental rights in education, but was an “amateur” when it comes to international concerns.
The researchers denounced DeSantis’ inability to use the full power to force the population to adhere to federal pandemic protocols. However, they suggested that he “uses the power to his benefit and not for the benefit of those who elected him to office.”
Although DeSantis’ thought is rigid and authoritarian, DeSantis thoughts are portrayed by the researchers in a section that details instances in which he changed his thinking to meet changing trends or popular demand.
AB2C asserts that DeSantis “is an extremist on the issue,” having “constantly positioned him with the most extreme members of his party.”
The researchers outline potential issues that could be wedged in the 2024 election. These include abortion, banking, climate alarmism, gun control, taxes, China, unions, and veterans’ affairs.
The researchers argue that these views are radical and attempt to make light of former President Donald Trump’s economic nationalism.
According to the document, DeSantis is “skeptical about Trump’s tariffs on steel & aluminum”, “voted to increase emerging country voting shares at the IMF,” and helped China avoid scrutiny for currency manipulation while in Congress. This allowed former President Barack Obama to pursue Trans-Pacific Partnership and vote for his “fast track” authority.
Pat Dennis, president of AB2C admitted via Twitter that he wanted them to attack one another.
Dennis stated that his team is working to convince Democrats that DeSantis has been “caught up” in culture wars and unfit for office, in addition to inciting infighting to the right.
Axios reported DeSantis was a MAGA extremist. The dossier is a long-term effort to label him.
