DeSantis on DEI: The way it’s practiced stands for Discrimination, Exclusion and Indoctrination

DeSantis: “So really, since November, that’s what we’ve been focused on in Florida. Some of it is things that I’ve done, executive, but most of it has been done in concert with the legislative Branch. I mean, the thing about doing it, as you all know, when you enact the stuff into law, you could have a new governor come in and they can’t just change it. If all you are doing is executive actions, you can have someone come in and change it. We’ve seen that with Biden, a lot of things that he has done. So we’ve just completed what I would say is the boldest and most far-reaching agenda that we’ve seen in the modern history of the Republican Party. If you look at what we’ve been able to accomplish, there is something in there for anybody in terms of the issues that we tackled.”

“So, we’re the first university system, first state to eliminate from our university system this idea of DEI. We signed the bill. It’s gone as of Monday. And it stands for diversity, equity and inclusion, but in reality, that’s a veneer to impose orthodoxy on the university. If you dissent from that, that watch out. They even have, in different parts of the country, they’ve had faculty, prospective faculty have to take a DEI oath just to get hired. And these are folks, if they say — you know, I believe everyone should be treated equally regardless of their race or ethnicity. They will mark you down for saying color blindness and equal treatment. And so, this has become a cottage industry. It’s become, actually, a major grifting opportunity because you’ll have these DEI consultants, they’ll show up, ‘Yeah, I would like to come and lecture about how capitalism is racist, only if you pay me $50,000 an hour.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, come on.’ So our view is that DEI, really, the way it’s practiced, stands for discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination. That has no part in our public institutions, so it’s gone in Florida.”

“We also signed legislation kneecapping this idea of ESG in our state. No ESG in our pension fund, we’ve got $180 billion pension fund, no ESG in contracting local, state government, the bond ratings have to be done based on credit, not based on ESG. And the ESG stuff, really, that’s just a veneer as well. It’s a veneer for them to be able to justify departing from traditional economic and business principles and mobilizing really significant economic resources in service of an ideological agenda. And they want that agenda, they’ll say, you know, climate change or anti-Second Amendment or whatnot, but I think of more — and I think the policies they’re pursuing will be destructive, but I think on a more fundamental level, they are trying to change policy in this country without having to go through you folks, without having to actually put their name on a ballot or vote for folks, because they know a lot of the policies they are advocating would not do well at the ballot box. So can you just — are they allowed to just dispense with that, collude together, use massive amounts of economic power to change the economy or to change policy? And our view is that we the people govern, and we don’t want a social or economic transformation without representation. So, ESG is DOA in the state of Florida.”