FACT CHECK: Does DeSantis Have A Better COVID Record Than Trump? We’ve Got The Receipts…

This week the probably pay-for-pay conservative influencer army has been running around Elon’s playground “calling out” President Trump for “lying” about Governor DeSantis shutting down Florida. Funny enough, most of these guys are pretending to be done with Trump “starting now” but they actually have a pretty long record of being haters. 

President Trump is not at all lying about Governor DeSantis’s record (receipts to follow). But neither man has a good one when it comes to what happened during the pandemic. The truth is, no matter how good a leader is, human beings are fallible and the tyrannical takeover led by Dr. Fauci, the left and whoever pulled their strings was thrust at both of these men with extreme force which they did not resist well enough. 

President Trump is my favorite politician in 32 years (the years of my life) and looking historically he is the only one I would say I believe might be an authentic actor who is telling me by-in-large the truth about who he is and what he intends. Governor DeSantis has been wonderful for Florida. He has made Florida everything President Trump wanted for America which Joe Biden has so swiftly ruined. I voted for Governor DeSantis and I’d be proud to do it again for another office when the time comes. 

I think both men are two of the best leaders America has had in a really long time. But both men (along with literally everyone else in the world) fell way short of good leadership during the COVID pandemic. 

Here is what happened in the early days of shutting down for COVID in 2020: 

Governor Desantis shutdown the Florida economy and issued stay-at-home orders on a statewide basis in April 2020. That is an inarguable fact. 

The Governor ordered “all Floridians to limit movements and personal interactions outside the home to only those necessary to obtain or provide essential services or essential activities.”

Governor DeSantis took the extra step of limiting the free movement of people across state lines 

His intentions were pure, he wanted to stop the flood of New Yorkers and liberal elites from coming to sunny Florida to weather COVID. It was still totally unconstitutional. 

Governor DeSantis did actually close beaches. 

Before he shut everyone down, he actually started with beaches. He lifted the Beach closures for some beaches about a month after closing. 

Even when DeSantis reopened beaches in the early portions of his mandated shutdown, he limited their use for exercise

Many people were arrested in Florida for violating DeSantis specific stay-at-home and closure orders including, but not limited to, faith leaders

Throughout the summer, DeSantis slowly reopened parts of the economy while relying on pseudoscience from “experts” to keep others closed down. (re: eating does not protect you from COVID) 

Governor DeSantis did not fully reopen the economy until September of 2020

The decision to reopen did come earlier than almost anyone else in the whole country and he did it despite a lot of bad media. So he did a great job standing up once he did finally stand up. But that doesn’t negate the 4 months of full shutdown. 

President Trump closed the borders to international travelers from China in early 2020

On January 31, 2020 President Trump knew the virus was from China and banned anyone from coming to America who had been in China recently (except U.S. Citizens). This move was widely criticized but looking back was maybe the smartest thing anyone did during the pandemic. 

President Trump issued a state of emergency on March 13, 2020 which ushered in the slew of statewide shutdowns 

In his announcement, he said “if you stay home, it’s not so bad.” Not exactly an endorsement of a shutdown but not helpful. 

Immediately following his state of emergency, President Trump launched the “15 days to slow the curve” initiative authored by Dr. Anthony Fauci – the architect of COVID tyranny 

The new guidance wasn’t binding but it was the founding documents for all the absolutely insane “social distancing” including stay-at-home orders, closing businesses and not even letting people go outside. This was a massive misstep by President Trump. 

President Trump made Anthony Fauci a national icon and leader on COVID tyranny by trusting him and giving him a stage 

President Trump frequently gave the microphone to Dr. Fauci starting in March of 2020 until things got way out of hand sometime in summer but it was too late by then. 

By the end of March, President Trump already wanted everyone to reopen and was cautioning against the extension of his own stay-at-home recommendations. 

Despite this, he still allowed Dr. Fauci to make the decision and he didn’t take back the reins until the end of April when he finally lifted the stay-at-home recommendation.

President Trump began strongly opposing shutdowns in April of 2020.

Trump tweeted a series of calls to free states from harsh shutdown requirements. He faced harsh criticism and he responded, essentially, that shutting down the country and locking people into their homes was wrong. 

President Trump supported protestors who were opposing shutdowns in May of 2020. 

He was, as with all things he ever did or said, majorly criticized by the media but he stood up for the protestors saying they were good people who wanted “their lives back.” 

President Trump partners with Ron DeSantis to lead the restoration of normalcy in America 

President Trump made a pitch to Floridians and Governor DeSantis to restore normalcy. 24 hours later, Governor DeSantis had removed his COVID restrictions. 

In the end, both men are great men. Both men were wrong on COVID for a while. Very few Americans were right on COVID the entire time. Me, Corinne Clark, and Jesse Kelly. Kristi Noem also. Not many others. The point is that a leftist army is feeding talking points to completely rewrite history to make it seem like Governor DeSantis was some bastion of freedom while President Trump locked everyone down. Neither leader stood up for freedom in March of 2020 or April of 2020. President Trump began in May 2020 as did Governor DeSantis. Freedom isn’t restored until September of 2020 for either man. Tyranny was allowed to thrive under both their leadership. When President Trump calls out Governor DeSantis (because he was asked) for locking down during COVID – it is 100% true. When President Trump is called out for supporting lockdowns it is also true.

Both got wise, President Trump absolutely led the way as he always has for Ron DeSantis. 

Luckily, I don’t think either man will make the same mistakes again.