After heās spent more than two years facing down Democratic attacks, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis has firmly established himself as a rock star of American Politics.
Now, with the release of a single dedicated to him by two bona fide heavyweights in Southern rock who also happen to be brothers, heās almost a rock star in his own right.
And itās a good bet āBrandon in the White Houseā and Dr. Anthony Fauci arenāt going to like it a bit.
On Friday, Johnny Van Zant, lead singer of the group Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Donnie Van Zant, best known as the former guitarist and songwriter for the group 38 Special, went public with āSweet Florida,ā a song that combines praise for DeSantis and mockery of President Joe Biden with the kind of infectious sound that stays in the ear long after the Music stops.
Check it out here. You wonāt regret it. (As the title suggests, the Lynyrd Skynyrd Southern rock anthem āSweet Home Alabamaā was a very loose inspiration ā the similarities end with the word āSweet.ā)
āWe got to thank Governor DeSantis for standing and believing for what he believes ā¦ heās been a great governor for us,ā Johnny Van Zant told Fox Newsā āFox & Friendsā on Friday.
What DeSantis stands for has been clear ever since the coronavirus pandemic cut a new political dividing line between the parties.
States governed by Democrats led the country in shutting down schools and businesses, churches and public events.
Republican-run states, led by DeSantisā Florida, have posed a direct challenge to that kind of soft totalitarianism, opening up schools, challenging vaccine and mask mandates and generally making a point of refusing to sacrifice American freedoms in the name of questionable claims about safety.
By any objective standard, the pandemicās toll on Florida has been no worse than in liberal states such as California in terms of illness and death, while its economy has come through stronger than more than half of the U.S. states, as a Politico report noted.
DeSantis and his state have also become a symbol for sanity in the national debate over ātransgenderā rights, with the passage of a law aimed at protecting schoolchildren from kindergarten through third grade from indoctrination by teachers more interested in pushing the agenda of āgender fluidityā than genuine education.
And heās been one of the most outspoken political leaders in the country against malicious deceptions behind the Biden administrationās policy of moving illegal aliens into the interior of the country under cover of darkness.
For all of that ā and more ā DeSantis has been attacked by the largely liberal media establishment in the Sunshine State, national media institutions such as ā60 Minutesā and The Associated Press, and, of course, the Biden White House.
It almost goes without saying that the Hollywood elite hate him.
But instead of backing down, his administration, with combatively competent spokeswoman Christina Pushaw, has hit back hard, building a playbook for how Republican politicians should handle an unapologetically biased news media.
And now, heās got a song fighting for him, too:
You can take it to the bank he donāt care what Brandon thinks at the White House.
Yeah heās fighting for the right to keep our state free.
Well heās taking on the swamp and heās calling out Dr. Fauci.
Heās the only one fightinā for you and me.
Thereās no telling what DeSantisā future holds. Amid the national attention heās received as a potential GOP contender for the presidency in 2024 ā a big part of whatās fueling the establishment mediaās hostility ā heās been adamant so far that his top concerns now are governing his state effectively and winning re-election in November.
But thereās no denying that if former President Donald Trump decides not to seek the office again, DeSantis will be the frontrunner for the GOP nomination.
Heās a Republican rock star. Heās got a song to prove it.
And Biden and Fauci, and the establishment they represent, canāt like that at all.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.