Gov. Ron DeSantis was sworn in for a second term Tuesday with a muscle-flexing speech in which he celebrated Florida as a “citadel of freedom” while targeting a wide array of familiar targets broadly captured by his condemnation of “woke ideology.”
In his 16-minute speech, before a 3,000-person crowd, DeSantis defended Florida families, law enforcement, and parental rights, while blistering other states, partisan interest groups, and a federal government he cast as seeking either to impose “trendy ideologies” or abandoning basic responsibilities.
“We reject this woke ideology,” DeSantis said. “We seek normalcy, not philosophical lunacy. We will not allow reality, facts and truth to become optional. We will never surrender to the woke mob.”