After he’s 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, he’s almost a rock star in his own right.
And it’s a good bet “Brandon in the White House” and Dr. Anthony Fauci aren’t 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 “Sweet Florida,” 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 won’t regret it. (As the title suggests, the Lynyrd Skynyrd Southern rock anthem “Sweet Home Alabama” was a very loose inspiration — the similarities end with the word “Sweet.”)
Thanks to Johnny & Donnie Van Zant. I have a feeling this might be the song of the summer…https://t.co/FzrPTkCfs9 pic.twitter.com/k6rk48tzq8
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantisFL) April 1, 2022
“We got to thank Governor DeSantis for standing and believing for what he believes … he’s been a great governor for us,” Johnny Van Zant told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” 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 DeSantis’ 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 pandemic’s 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 “transgender” 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 “gender fluidity” than genuine education.
And he’s been one of the most outspoken political leaders in the country against malicious deceptions behind the Biden administration’s policy of moving illegal aliens into the interior of the country under cover of darkness.
For all of that — and more — DeSantis has been attacked by the largely liberal media establishment in the Sunshine State, national media institutions such as “60 Minutes” 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, he’s got a song fighting for him, too:
You can take it to the bank he don’t care what Brandon thinks at the White House.
Yeah he’s fighting for the right to keep our state free.
Well he’s taking on the swamp and he’s calling out Dr. Fauci.
He’s the only one fightin’ for you and me.
There’s no telling what DeSantis’ future holds. Amid the national attention he’s received as a potential GOP contender for the presidency in 2024 — a big part of what’s fueling the establishment media’s hostility — he’s been adamant so far that his top concerns now are governing his state effectively and winning re-election in November.
But there’s no denying that if former President Donald Trump decides not to seek the office again, DeSantis will be the frontrunner for the GOP nomination.
He’s a Republican rock star. He’s got a song to prove it.
And Biden and Fauci, and the establishment they represent, can’t like that at all.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
