It would be hard to find a person who better represents the liberal media establishment than Thomas B. Edsall, whose career includes the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.  In his latest column for the Times, he attempts to slam Ron DeSantis, letting the world know that the Democrats fear him more than Donald Trump at the top of the 2024 presidential ticket.  But in the process of doing so, far from damaging the Florida governor with the GOP electorate and middle-of-the-road voters, he awards DeSantis badges of honor.

Consider:

DeSantis relishes using the state to enforce his aggressive social agenda and has consistently plotted a hard-right course on issues from critical race theory to transgender rights.

For example, DeSantis sponsored and pushed through the legislature the "Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (W.O.K.E.) Act" — or the Stop Woke Act for short — which now awaits his signature.

The legislation, Florida H.B. 7, bans teaching critical race theory that suggests that

A person, by virtue of his or her race, color, national origin, or sex is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.

or that

A person, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the person played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, national origin, or sex.

A second bill, the Parental Rights in Education Act, H.B. 1557, which opponents call the "Don't Say Gay Bill," is also on DeSantis's desk for his signature. The measure reads:

Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.

For people living in the blue bubble of the Upper West Side of Manhattan, opposing CRT and the transgender agenda may be damnable heresies, but for the vast majority of the country, these positions are simply common sense.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 license.