Fla. Democratic Party is a ‘dead, rotten carcass’

​Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Republicans have been successful in turning the Sunshine State into where the “woke goes to die” — claiming the Democratic party in the state has effectively become a “dead, rotten carcass​.”

DeSantis, a likely 2024 candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, said the GOP in Florida has shone a light on Democrats when they’re “totally off their rocker” and protected Floridians from the left’s “worst pathologies.”

“They can marginalize you based on a conservative viewpoint. You should be able to live your life the way you want to in Florida, without having the left’s agenda crammed down your throat​,” the governor told Newsweek in an interview promoting his book, “The Courage to be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival.”​

He said because of that, the Democratic Party in his state ​”is basically a dead, rotten carcass on the side of the road​.”

DeSantis, 44, who was reelected by a 15-point landslide in November far beyond the margin he was first elected in 2019, said he rejected advice to not “make a lot of waves” in his first term, saying he decided to take the opposite approach. 

​Instead he said he wanted to “be on offense. … That really ends up being a good defense, too, because a lot of Republicans are more likely to sit back; media attacks them; media defines the terms of the debate.”

“We do not shirk from issues,” he ​told Newsweek in the interview published Tuesday. “We leaned in across the board, whether it’s education — yes, fighting the wokeness — illegal immigration, all those different things.”

D​eSantis just scored a huge legislative victory over Disney, ​the entertainment behemoth that lobbied against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Law that was dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics. 

He signed legislation on Monday putting Disney’s self-governed Reedy Creek Improvement District” under state control. 

“Today the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,” DeSantis said at the bill-signing ceremony. “There’s a new sheriff in town, and accountability will be the order of the day.”

DeSantis has yet to formally announce his intention to challenge Donald Trump for the GOP nomination, but the former president has lashed out against the governor, calling him “Meatball Ron” and “Ron DeSanctimonious.”

H​e has railed against the teaching of critical race theory and has backed parents’ right to have a say in what their children are being taught in schools, accusing teachers’ unions of pursuing a woke agenda. 

“What we said is that parents have a right to know what is being taught in schools … and what books are in the libraries,” he said. “Now, they have a right to raise that with the school district and those books can be removed from these younger grades, in particular.”

“Our view is that education should be done in the classical sense,” he continued. “It is non-partisan; it is not value neutral … we want people to learn about the facts of the Holocaust and if you teach Holocaust denial you will be fired.”

He said he believes the educational reforms he has pushed through in Florida will be used an example by states across the country.

“I think we’ve been able to do more in these last four years than anyone thought possible,” DeSantis said. “Going forward, in the next few years, with all the (school board) members we’ve elected and will elect in ’24, I think we​’​re going to be the model for the country.”

DeSantis’ political star began to soar when he balked at the federal government’s restrictions at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, ​keeping schools and businesses open and pushing back against the mandates urged by Dr. Anthony Fauci, at the time the White House’s top medical adviser.

​​”What we were doing was so different from what the established narrative said we were supposed to do, that I was like the guy who was fighting for these people … ​f​ighting Fauci … fighting the corporate press … fighting the local governments​,” he told Newsweek.

He said his actions set Florida apart from the rest of the country that struggled to recover economically after the lockdowns.

“We do now, in Florida, have a little bit of a mojo; this idea of, ‘don’t tread on Florida.’ The idea that we’re the free state of Florida. … People have viewed Florida as a refuge​,” he said. ​