I’ll give the requisite warning that there will be at least some level of Ron DeSantis fanboying contained in this article. With that out of the way, DeSantis once again today showed why he’s cut from a different piece of cloth that most other Republican politicians, especially those that reside within the beltway in D.C.

With big tech cracking down on internet speech, specifically conservative viewpoints, it’s far past time for the GOP to fight back in ways they can. While there’s little that can be done at the national level now because Trump and the Republican Senate squandered those opportunities the last four years, there’s plenty that can happen downstream. Contrary to the media’s narrative, the GOP is still fairly dominate at the state level.

DeSantis is once again leading on the big issues, coordinating with the GOP led Florida House of Representatives to divest his state from Facebook, Twitter, Apple, and Google.

Breaking News
Florida Governor Makes Takes Moves to Divest State Funds from Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Twitter. I'll ask @RepMattGaetz pic.twitter.com/zEdrhewmYk

— Charles V Payne (@cvpayne) January 12, 2021

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, who serves under DeSantis, has now confirmed that they will game plan this out at their next meeting this month.

Every GOP governor in the country should be doing this. There’s absolutely no reason to not use every tool at our disposal to push back against big tech until they cry uncle. If the idea is that these big corporations will change their behavior if you hit them in the pocket book, you have to actually hit in them in a way that hurts them. Conservative accounts pulling out aren’t going to do anything. That’s exactly what social media want. It doesn’t hurt them financially, and it gets their nuances out of their hair. But if states led by Republicans band together and sue, divest, and otherwise throttle big tech’s reach, that may actually get their attention.

Of course, maybe this won’t do anything, but the message being sent is valuable in and of itself. DeSantis is showing that he’s willing to meet the Republican voter base where they are and fight for things they care about. People are sick and tired of a select few mega-corporations having so much control over speech on the internet. That’s the kind of thing you’d expect in China, with top down censorship being the norm. It shouldn’t be expected here in the United States, even if it is done under the guise of “private” companies.

Regardless, DeSantis continues to show a willingness to jump in the water first while most other Republicans sit on the sidelines. That’s why he’s such an attractive prospect for 2024. In the end, I’m sure there’ll be others who come to the fore, but Florida’s governor is certainly getting a head start.

(Please follow me on Twitter…@bonchieredstate)