Larry Hogan Decides to Trash Ron DeSantis

Bonchie reporting for RedState 

Gov. Larry Hogan, who is finishing up his final term in the deep-blue state of Maryland, wants to run for president in 2024. More laughably, he apparently wants to do so as a Republican. Because what do GOP voters love more than a politician who goes on CNN, accepts false premises, and then rails against their own party?

That’s what transpired on Sunday morning as Hogan appeared on “State of the Union” with Martha Raddatz.  As expected, the latter was quick to tee up criticism of Ron DeSantis and Florida’s new Parental Rights in Education law. Hogan, every thirsty for media backslaps, took the bait and played his role as the “good Republican.”

Before I get to Hogan, I want to point out how Raddatz describes the law in question, because I think it says so much about the left. First, she uses the false title “Don’t Say Gay” to describe it, which is hardly surprising given she’s a dishonest hack. But then she goes on to state that the law “bans certain instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom.”

What classroom are we talking about? Is it all classrooms or is it just K-3rd grade classrooms? If you’ve been paying attention, you know the answer is the latter, but Raddatz doesn’t say that for one simple reason: Even liberals are embarrassed to admit what this fight is actually about. That’s why you’ll never see a Democrat accurately describe the Parental Rights in Education bill in full detail. Because if they do, it becomes obvious how disturbing their opposition is.

But I digress, Hogan decided to take a swing at the king, and he just missed badly.

The first thing that jumps out to me is how much of a coward this guy is. Instead of actually owning what the law says and attempting to dispute it on the merits, Hogan actually claims that he doesn’t know what it says. We are talking about a law that has been at the top of the headlines for months, and he wants people to believe he’s just never bothered to read a summary of it.

Hogan then starts listing things that DeSantis has done, insinuating he’s overstepped his authority in telling businesses what to do. His examples? That DeSantis told local school districts they can’t make kids wear useless masks and that he told cruise lines they can’t discriminate based on COVID vaccination status. On both points, the Florida governor has been proven completely right, as mask mandates and vaccine passports have been shown to be completely ineffective.

Then there’s the biggest problem with Hogan’s commentary, which is that he frames Disney as an innocent bystander in all this. In reality, it is Disney that picked this fight with DeSantis, not the other way around. Further, private companies are not entitled to continue to receive tax breaks and other special treatment, even as they inject themselves into politics in a way that runs directly counter to the will of the voters. DeSantis is very popular in Florida. The Parental Rights in Education bill enjoys wide approval as well. If Disney wants to “take a stand” and push for the sexualization of young children, it can do so without further taxpayer-funded incentives.

To summarize, not only did Hogan not have the facts about the law he was commenting on, but he thought it was a great idea to then mispresent DeSantis’ tenure because the Maryland governor was too spineless to make moves in his own state to protect individual rights. At the end of his remarks, you see Hogan smile at Raddatz, as if to lovingly absorb her approval. It’s all just so pathetic, and it’s why this guy doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell come 2024.