FALSE PROPHET

Ron DeSantis

Governor, Florida

Ron DeSantis is the current governor of Florida, a former US Congressman, and a potential frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He is a far-right Catholic whose rhetoric and policies endorse religious control of the government. As governor, DeSantis has supported theocratic positions that distort the Gospel and attack equal rights, including signing the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” education law, attacking Disney’s corporate tax status in retaliation for its LGBTQ support, and vetoing funding for low-income birth control at the request of conservative Catholic bishops. He has also placed religious ideologues in key positions across state government. DeSantis regularly undermines democracy: He has attacked voting rights in the dishonest name of voter fraud, and, when asked by the Washington Post if he would accept the results of the 2022 election, he refused to comment.

DeSantis’ Christian Nationalist Rhetoric

  • Frequently misquotes Scripture to attack Democrats, replacing references to “the devil” with references to “the left” in Ephesians 6: “You got to be ready for battle, so put on the full armor of God. Take a stand against the left’s schemes.”

  • In support of school prayer, DeSantis said: “The idea that you can just push God out of every institution and be successful, I’m sorry, our Founding Fathers did not believe that.”

  • DeSantis’s remarks at the 2019 National Day of Prayer: “The biggest part of the revolution in our country was the idea that our rights are God-given – not given by government… So when we’re talking about prayer, whether you’re doing it at the start of a legislative session, whether when you take an oath of office you’re saying, ‘So help me God,’ you’re doing that with the recognition that, ultimately, what we’re doing here on Earth is hopefully doing God’s will.”

  • Spoke to Focus on the Family in a June 2022 evangelical broadcast criticizing single-parent families, transgender students, LGBTQ families, and abortion access.

  • Has appeared on Christian nationalist movement leader and fellow False Prophet Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council’s show ‘Washington Watch’

DeSantis’ Christian Nationalist Policy Positions

  • Chartered planes using taxpayer dollars to transport Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, under the false pretenses of sending them to Boston for jobs and housing. The cruel stunt was condemned by many local faith leaders.

  • Established a Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative to restrict how educators can discuss race and sexual orientation in the classroom. The training, developed with right-wing Hillsdale College and Charles Koch’s so-called “Bills of Rights Institute,” downplayed slavery and spread fundamentalist misconceptions about the separation of church and state.

  • Signed anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ bills, including the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and the trans sports bill, and issued Florida Health Department guidance that deems neither “social transition” nor “medical transition” are allowed for trans teenagers.

  • Spread COVID-19 disinformation, promoted dissenters, and did not pre-order vaccines for children under 5.

  • Recently removed a state attorney who pledged to use prosecutorial discretion to not go after people who seek abortions or gender-affirming care, as well as those who provide those services.

  • Awarded a 100% score from fellow False Prophet Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council  (designated an anti-LGBTQ “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center) for his final term in Congress for voting to overturn the Affordable Care Act, oppose equal LGBTQ rights, and roll back the separation of church and state, among other bills.

  • By refusing to say whether he believes the 2020 election was rigged, selecting a Secretary of State who believes in the Big Lie, and declining to say if he will accept the 2022 results, DeSantis has implied his support for and helped to mainstream the various election-denial conspiracy theories spread by fellow False Prophets and Christian-nationalist movement leaders Rev. Franklin Graham, General Michael Flynn, Bishop Joseph Strickland, strategist Steve Bannon, and Pastor Tony Perkins.