On Tuesday, writing to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Patrick Bennett of Dade City, a self-described conservative who voted for former President Donald Trump twice, proclaimed he was "totally fed up" with Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Bennett singled out DeSantis' refusal to apply for federal pandemic food aid for children, saying that "he literally takes food out of the mouths of babes because his own table is bountiful" and that he appears to think he is the "dictator" of Florida.
But he also took aim at DeSantis' attacks on local officials for trying to enforce COVID health guidelines, like stripping pay from superintendents who enforce mask mandates.
"Truthfully, I thought when I first read [about his mask mandate ban] that it had to be some kind of false smear against him. It just sounded too nutty to be right. Thank God the courts had better sense about it," wrote Bennett. "Then there's his unreasonable venture into violating the rights of businesses to decide who they serve, such as cruise lines. If it were a public utility like electricity, it would be different. But private businesses have every right to determine who they serve. So do cruise lines."
DeSantis is reportedly expanding his attack on COVID restrictions, threatening to fine any city that requires its employees to be vaccinated.