State lawmakers on Monday opened a special session called by Gov. Ron DeSantis to vote on lhis immigration proposals, but quickly adjourned it and opened their own special session with their own bill.
This is a sharp turnabout from two years ago, when DeSantis was seemingly at the top of his powers with a presidential run lined up. By last January, however, DeSantis dropped out of the GOP race, and Donald Trump surged to a second presidency.
So what happened with the relationship between the governor and the Republican-led Legislature? WUSF dissects the fallout with Frank Orlando, a professor of political science at Saint Leo University.
WUSF: So what is going on here? Does this surprise you at all the ferocity with what we're seeing from Tallahassee?
ORLANDO: Obviously, this is something we have not become accustomed to over the past six years and change of the Ron DeSantis era as governor in Florida; so much open, you could say, even disdain for his plans. And I think, on the one hand, it might be a little bit unexpected because we haven't really seen much of it in the past few years, but also not super unexpected, given what happened and transpired last year during the Republican (presidential) primary, where people chose sides and Gov. DeSantis came out on the losing end. And I think many legislators who have felt that they needed to go along, maybe feel free to openly defy the governor, considering the manner in which he lost spectacularly, the primary last year with President Trump.
Maybe it's not as much as that he lost the race for president as that he's a lame-duck governor. He'll be gone in 3½, three quarters year,s but he still has the power, obviously, to veto their personal preferences for bills. Doesn't that still carry as much weight as it did a year ago?
So, obviously, constitutionally, he still has that ability. The question is, how much political capital does he have right now? And I think what's interesting is almost like a political feeling out period again, of both sides trying to reassert their dominance. This year, I think this is about the Senate and the House trying to establish their control with a little bit of a boost from the Agriculture commissioner (Wilton Simpson) and Gov. DeSantis trying to reestablish, "Hey, I might have lost that primary. I can't run for reelection, but I'm still in charge here. I'm still the top dog. I still want the headlines, and I want to be the one that's going to be in charge of immigration enforcement. I want to be the one that generates these positive headlines, and I want to reestablish my connection even with the voters of Florida."
So the big question is going to be: What do the voters, what do the activists, what do the donors, what do the rank-and-file Republicans in Florida, who do they fall in line with? Clearly, the preference was for not Gov. DeSantis presidentially. But does he still have that juice as governor?
And I think perhaps the Legislature wanted to test that to see if that still was the story. Gov. DeSantis has made a media blitz, quite frankly, over the past day or two, to try to get out in front of this, not only on local but also nationally. Trying to get out in front of this and trying to put himself back on top. It will be super interesting to see. Are voters still with him as governor, or has what transpired meant that he's vulnerable, and his power and his grip on the Legislature is vulnerable.
"The Legislature sensed blood in the water on DeSantis, and they're like, you know, 'We're tired of him, you know, ruling over us with an iron fist. We want to do our own thing.' This is kind of like a plot against the governor, and we're going to find out if he's vulnerable or if they way overstated his vulnerability."Frank Orlando, Saint Leo University politcal scientist
The Legislature sensed blood in the water on DeSantis, and they're like, you know, "We're tired of him, you know, ruling over us with an iron fist. We want to do our own thing." This is kind of like a plot against the governor, and we're going to find out if he's vulnerable or if they way overstated his vulnerability. And right now, he still has some pretty big advantages with people. Just because people prefer Trump to him in the primary doesn't mean a lot of those same people still don't really like him as governor. So it's a risky move.
DeSantis has been known for having a thin skin in the past, too, and that's kind of bearing itself out in some of the comments we've been seeing, some of the tweets and stuff like that, right?
I'm trying to teach class today, and I keep getting notifications. Well, the governor tweeted this and the Legislature tweeted this, and then Commissioner Simpson tweeted this. Very rare in an era where the Republican Party is so dominant in the state of Florida to see this infighting, but once again, perhaps not unexpected, when we've gotten to the point where the Republican Party is so dominant that if you're going to find enemies or invent enemies, they have to come from within your own party, right?
If they don't need to fight Democrats, because the Democrats make up such, unfortunately for them, an insignificant part of the state House and state Senate and the executive branch. So when there is going to be strife, it's not surprising that it's coming from within the household. And so a little bit interesting, a little bit surprising. But when you have people that are ambitious, when you have people that want more power, that want to ascend to different roles in the future, there are people that are standing in the way, and you’ve got to go through someone within your own party sometimes.
And one of the more contentious parts of this special session so far is the proposed transferring of immigration enforcement powers from the governor's office to Wilton Simpson, who's the Agriculture commissioner from northeast Pasco County. You think this might be a positioning for him, maybe to make a run at governor himself?
I think for sure that that is something that is in the back of the mind of the commissioner, having control over high-profile things, and also, most importantly, places where you can be seen as doing the bidding of President Trump; right places where you can establish your Trump bona fides, such as on the issue of immigration, can only be a benefit in the upcoming Republican primary.
I think Wilton Simpson, obviously, an amazing history in Republican politics, in the state Legislature and in Pasco County, for sure. I think an important thing for him is to establish among the other parts of the state and to very strong people that see RINOs everywhere, that William Simpson very much is not that right, that "I'll be the one to enforce this immigration. I'll be the one to do this. You can trust me. You can count on me. I've got President Trump's back. Watch me in action." I think the vision of Wilton Simpson as establishment Republican is something that will be an anchor on him in the Republican primary against whomever is there for governor, and you've already seen, if you look at the tweets ... DeSantis has gotten the drop on him in terms of the court of public opinion right now.
"When you have people that are ambitious, when you have people that want more power, that want to ascend to different roles in the future, there are people that are standing in the way, and you’ve got to go through someone within your own party sometimes."Frank Orlando, Saint Leo University political scientist
Now, maybe the Simpson allies fight back or whatever, but if this turns into a public relations battle, the Legislature and Simpson are not going to be able to keep up with DeSantis and his ability to get on (Sean) Hannity and Glenn Beck, they're not going to be able to win that battle.
So the issue is, I don't think that Gov. DeSantis and Commissioner Simpson have always had the greatest relationship. And quite frankly, as you mentioned, I don't think Gov. DeSantis wants to give Wilton Simpson that win for whatever reason, whether he wants it for himself or not. I just don't think he wants to give that away to Commissioner Simpson in particular.
It sounds like, in a sense, it's a continuation of the DeSantis-Trump wars that we've seen in the past, right? Even though they've publicly made up, it sounds like there's still some underlying tension there, and that's what's playing out here.
Yeah, I think there, for sure, is from what we've heard, I was not on the phone call, but Gov. DeSantis called on President Trump, possibly in the last few days, to kind of get his maybe support for his side of the (immigration) story. And it doesn't look like that has come, and it appears as though President Trump is hoping that the Legislature can put something forward, a stronger version of their own bill, to counter Gov. DeSantis' bill, which, quite frankly, is much tougher at this point on enforcement. So I think there is something there that still is unresolved.
But the fun thing is, both sides of this issue, if you look at the tweets and their comments and all of this stuff, are both claiming the mantle of President Trump in trying to do this right. Who is the Trumpiest? It will be a battle that will be happening in the Republican Party in Florida over the next few years, for sure.
