Copyright MSNBC
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday announced a “partnership” between his government and Turning Point USA, the billionaire-backed group founded by conservative influencer Charlie Kirk — the latest in an ongoing effort by Republican officials to prop up Kirk’s organization, shine up his image and target his critics since he was shot and killed in September. DeSantis announced the partnership during a conference at which he said he’d rename Florida’s speech and debate championship after Kirk. Additional details on the “partnership” itself were scant, with DeSantis saying it’s intended to ensure that anyone who wants to start a TPUSA chapter at their high school won’t face “impediments” or “discrimination.” DeSantis said any school or district that does so will receive a “nastygram” from his schools commissioner, who will “drop the hammer.” Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios “Stasi” Kamoutsas doubled down on DeSantis’ threat, defending the high school extracurricular with the overheated rhetoric of a tough-on-crime prosecutor. “If you try to serve as an obstacle, if you are a hurdle, if you get in the way of any student or teacher trying to start a Turning Point USA chapter in Florida, you will be met with the full force of the law,” he said in the speech and in a social media post resharing his remarks. Since Kirk’s death, conservatives have sought to cast him as a champion of free speech and open debate, despite abundant evidence to the contrary. Among other positions, Kirk argued former President Joe Biden should be imprisoned or given the death penalty for purported “crimes against America,” and he maintained a “professor watchlist” that conservative activists used to track educators whose lessons ran afoul of right-wing ideology. Meanwhile, there’s no evidence to suggest that students looking to launch TPUSA chapters have faced “discrimination” or “impediments” at any Florida school. In fact, the groups with the more credible claim to facing impediments and potential bans in Florida schools are the identity-based student groups that are the target of MAGA’s war on diversity, which DeSantis has helped fuel.
