Amid the firehose of sinister Donald Trump orders and actions on the first day of Week Two, let us take a moment to revel in something less bleak: Ron DeSantis’ uninterrupted, borderline masochistic humiliation at the hands of Trump (and his friends).
During the transition, it appeared Trump was enacting some payback on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for running against him in the primaries by putting the former Republican presidential candidate through a series of toxic public embarrassments. First, he attempted to bulldoze DeSantis out of his gubernatorial duty of choosing someone to replace Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) when Trump selected him as his Secretary of State by publicly pushing for his daughter-in-law Lara Trump to be appointed to the seat. (That drive died down and DeSantis did ultimately pick his attorney general for the gig.)
Then, as what would-be-for-nought uproar swelled around Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Secretary of Defense in light of an at-the-time undisclosed sexual assault allegation, it was reported that Trump was considering pulling Hegseth from consideration and replacing him with DeSantis. That news cycle lasted just long enough for those invested in DeSantis’ future political prospects to get their hopes up. Trump ended up sticking with the accused sexual assaulter.
Now this week, DeSantis’ own onetime deeply loyal Republican state legislature is doing Trump’s DeSantis humiliation gambit for him. In a stunning turn of events in the state legislature Monday, Republican leadership not only defied DeSantis by shutting down the special session he’d called for and scrapping a DeSantis-backed immigration bill he’d asked them to pass, they also introduced their own version of the legislation, which they named after the President: coined the TRUMP Act.
Let me break it down.
On Monday, Florida lawmakers gaveled in for the special session that DeSantis had called for this week to help implement key aspects of Trump’s immigration agenda in the state. But within minutes, lawmakers gaveled out of the special session, summarily scrapping the proposals DeSantis had forced on their chambers, which included an immigration bill and ballot initiative proposals.
A few minutes later, according to multiple local reports, Republican leadership called their own special session, during which they presented their own immigration bill titled the Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy, or the “TRUMP” Act.
It appears Republican members of the state legislature’s issues with DeSantis are three-fold. Republican leadership is annoyed with DeSantis for forcing a special session — “Special sessions should be used sparingly,” state House Speaker Daniel Perez reportedly said Monday. “They should not be stunts designed to generate headlines.”
Second, Republican leadership took issue with key proposals in DeSantis’ immigration bill. Per the AP:
The governor’s proposals included punishing officers with criminal charges if they didn’t enforce the measures and creating a database to track people who send money to their families outside the U.S. (Florida Senate President Ben) Albritton called the moves unconstitutional, and said he wouldn’t ask officers to violate the law.
“Sometimes leadership isn’t about being out in front of an issue,” Albritton reportedly told members Monday. “It’s about following the leader you trust. I trust President Trump.”
According to reporting in Politico, Republican leadership was also concerned DeSantis’ bill went further than what the White House is pushing during Trump’s second week back in office.
“President Trump clearly has the situation under control and is leading from the Oval Office,” he continued. “I want to be careful not to undermine any of President Trump’s plan. I won’t stand for that.”
The TRUMP Act is expected to pass both chambers of the state legislature by Tuesday, when it will then be sent to DeSantis’ desk, per local reports. It’s not yet clear if he will sign his humiliation into law.
We need to get the job done regarding illegal immigration. We don’t have time for posturing. My thoughts on today’s antics by the Florida Legislature. pic.twitter.com/o0jb7fbZrW
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) January 27, 2025
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