Grant Ingle: State Republicans out of touch

When I read the article “Couple co-chairs DeSantis campaign,” [Gazette, Dec. 7] I thought at first it was a parody. Jay Fleitman called DeSantis “principled, effective [and] incredibly intelligent” and claimed that DeSantis is a “nice guy — someone you want to see in the upper level of politics.”

Really? In fact, DeSantis is known for being tone-deaf, being a bully, banning books, demonizing GLBTQIA communities, preventing the history of racism and other social justice issues from being taught in Florida or discussed in workplaces (the war on woke), deceptively sending immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, signing a into law a six-week abortion ban, loosening gun laws allowing for open carry without a permit, attempting to covert New College into a conservative haven, and lying about COVID death rates, and is now actively discouraging COVID vaccinations in Florida, and on and on.

His polling numbers have continued to plummet, many of his campaign staffers have quit, and the bulk of his financial supporters have abandoned him.

The decision of Fleitman and his wife to co-chair the DeSantis campaign in Massachusetts (and to announce it now) is a clear demonstration of how out of touch many Massachusetts Republicans are and largely explains why Republicans are now only 8% of the state electorate. While some may think it’s unfair to broadly criticize state Republicans for being out of touch, remember that Fleitman is also the vice chair of the state GOP.

Grant Ingle

Conway