Highly-touted legislation in Florida that aimed to ban the removal of American monuments and bar the flying of the LGBT flag at schools and government buildings has died in committee after being killed off by the Florida GOP, which refused to move on the bills before the end of the 2024 legislative session.

Florida Republicans are backing down after generating national press that claimed they were taking a stand against historical vandals and LGBT subversives as Florida State Senate Leadership says that bills to bar monument removals and the flying of gay pride flags on government buildings are dead.

On Senate Bill 1122, which aimed to bar the removal or destruction of historical monuments on public property, Florida State Senate President Kathleen Passidomo said that the debate became a little too spirited, and therefore, the bill has to go away. Apparently, along with America’s monuments.

SB 1122, Passidomo said, “has been weaponized by both sides and that troubles me. That’s not how we run our chamber, that’s not how we pass our legislation, at least for me. And so, at this point, I don’t see that bill coming back.”

Though the bill did not expressly mention Confederate monuments, Florida was a Confederate state and has seen numerous of its statues torn down and destroyed, under the watch of Governor Ron DeSantis, who has claimed that he supports legislation to bar their removal.

Senate Bill 1122 is accompanied in death by Senate Bill 1120, which sought to bar the flying of the LGBT flag at government buildings, including public schools.

The death of the legislation comes after Ron DeSantis tried to position himself as a warrior for America’s kids, and told parents that Florida would defend its students against LGBT subversion.

Senate President Passidomo says that the Senate merely “ran out of time” before the March 8th end of the legislative session, and just won’t be able to protect kids this year.

The monument and flag legislation are far from the only bills to die before the end of the Florida State Legislature’s 2024 session, and Republicans, especially in the Senate, are facing growing heat from their constituents because of it. 

The failure to pass the bills comes despite Republicans controlling both the House and Senate chambers of the legislature, as well as, obviously, the governorship.

But that hasn’t seemed to bother them, as noted by Florida NBC affiliate WPTV, which reported:

Despite these measures gaining traction in the House and being listed as priorities by the Florida GOP, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, has shown little interest, emphasizing the autonomy of the Legislature in lawmaking.

“Our bill process is not the Republican Party of Florida,” Passidomo said last week. “We are the Legislature. We make the laws. We review the laws.”

Among the other initiatives to die this year is an abortion ban that originated in the House, and a bill to lower the age to purchase a long gun from 21, back to 18 – Which is what the law in Florida used to be before Republican Governor-turned-US Senator Rick Scott groveled to the gun control lobby and signed legislation raising the age of purchase and installing numerous other roadblocks to lawful gun ownership. 

Notably, most of the aforementioned bills or causes, at one point or another, generated positive press for the DeSantis campaign, as Americans were told that he was ruling Florida like a right-winger’s paradise and commanding the legislature to enact a populist, traditionalist agenda.

The legislature, however, has proven this not to be true.

Related: Defeated DeSantis Sees Influence Wane Upon Return to Florida

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s return to Florida after his failed presidential run and preceding “book tour” that took him out of the state and all over the country on a full-time basis has been met with little enthusiasm from Florida Republicans, who face budgetary issues with federal COVID money “drying up” and an insurance industry crisis worse than any state in the country.

Ron DeSantis has been “ignored” by Florida Republicans since returning to Florida after conceding 2024’s GOP Presidential Primary and getting behind 45th President Trump as he swats down Nikki Haley, the report from Newsweek says.

But not being Mr. Popularity in his home state may be the least of DeSantis’s problems there, as the report goes on to mention the “ongoing insurance crisis in Florida” that is set to get even worse as “federal pandemic funds are drying up.”

In other words, the report suggests that DeSantis has been propping his state up with federal COVID money, something he often spoke out against during the presidential campaign, and now his scheme is in jeopardy of crashing down with a decrease in federal welfare on the horizon.

“Florida homeowners are currently paying premiums up to an average of $6,000 per year, the highest rates in the entire country,” the Newsweek report explains, adding that “DeSantis and his administration have been blamed for not doing enough to fix the situation.”

And DeSantis’s image among Florida Republicans is taking a hit on more than just his alleged inaction on the insurance issues and his reliance on COVID money – his ability to influence the direction of the state is also reportedly waning, as DeSantis-backed plans to build a casino in Miami were recently rejected.

“Florida Republicans’ unwillingness to rally around the governor now that he’s back in the state and is proposing new legislation possibly indicates that DeSantis’ influence on the GOP and the state has waned since his doomed run for the presidency,” the report goes on to suggest.

Related: Ron DeSantis Signed COVID Law Allowing Forced Injections by ‘Any Means Necessary’

News of DeSantis’s problems in Florida is accompanied by similar issues for anti-Trump Republicans all over the country, who have tried to come back into the America First fold since their futile attempt at unseated Trump as the presumptive 2024 GOP Presidential nominee.

As a result of the split that the DeSantis camp created, the House Freedom Caucus, several members of which, including Reps. Bob Good (VA) and Chip Roy (TX) backed DeSantis, appears to have lost much of its juice, and its highest-ranking members face primary challenges thanks to their turning against Trump.

But public pushback hasn’t stopped many of the Team DeSantis veterans from slithering back into Trump Land, including Steve Cortes, who wrote a dramatic op-ed announcing his renewed support for Trump, after being blasted several months earlier for defecting to the DeSantis side.

As National File Reported:

“I was wrong,” former Trump adviser turned Never Back Down PAC spokesman Steve Cortes, who stepped down from the pro-DeSantis PAC back in October, wrote in the op-ed.

“Those of us who backed Ron DeSantis – or the other Republican candidates – should read the room,” he added, citing Trump’s massive win in Iowa and his big leads in the polls in every other state, before calling on his former anti-Trump comrades to stop attacking him with “Democrat Party-like talking points.”

They “only dilute the power of our cause as we head toward November,” Cortest wrote.

“How do we save America?” he went on to ask.

“It is time to unify behind former President Trump as he leads the battle against the ruling class and the oligarchs intent on destroying the American way of life,” he answered. “I implore all patriotic populists to join as I pledge to do all I can to work for Trump’s cause, just as I proudly did in 2016 and 2020.”

Read More: Ex-DeSantis Spokesman Admits ‘Only Trump Can Save America’

Recent reports say that 45th President Trump is telling GOP candidates for office not to hire Jeff Roe or his Axiom Strategies firm, which is one of the largest Republican consulting outfits in the country but failed to get the DeSantis campaign off the ground, unable to overcome the MAGA movement it sought to demonize. Roe’s downfall comes years after he helped spearhead the original Never Trump movement of 2016, running the Ted Cruz campaign, which tried at the 11th hour to take the nomination from Trump on the 2016 GOP convention floor.

Politico detailed President Trump’s reported efforts to keep Jeff Roe, the strategist behind Ted Cruz, Glenn Youngkin, Ron DeSantis, and others, out of future GOP races, reporting that GOP “candidates have been warned that hiring Roe could create a political problem for them with the Trump team.”

Quoting an unnamed “influential Republican strategist,” Politico reported that “It’s an open secret that candidates who want to stay on President Trump’s good side should not hire Axiom.”

“They are enemy No. 1,” the quote from the strategist added.

Roe, Axiom, and the Never Back Down PAC took on what has been described as an “unprecedented role” in the DeSantis presidential run, with the fundraising apparatus that was backed by billionaire globalists taking on duties usually handled by the campaign.

The relationship was a tumultuous one, though, resulting in numerous public feuds and firings.

In a sign of what was to come, Jeff Roe stepped down from the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down PAC in December, just weeks ahead of the Iowa Caucuses, putting the finishing touches on the disastrous relationship between Axiom and Team DeSantis.

Roe’s departure came after he was publicly accused by Donald Trump Jr. of prolonging the failing DeSantis campaign to make himself more money, as well as after multiple internet spats with Trump surrogates.

Related: DeSantis Quits, Endorses Trump

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has ended his 2024 presidential campaign and is endorsing 45th President Trump, the frequent target of his unsuccessful campaign’s attacks. DeSantis’s campaign ends after the Iowa Caucuses kicked off 2024’s presidential nomination process, with Trump blowing out the entire GOP field and DeSantis finishing in a distant second. The exit of DeSantis, which follows the exits of Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie, effectively turns the GOP race into a contest between President Trump and Nikki Haley, the only remaining candidates that even register in polls, with Trump maintaining a huge lead.

“If there was anything I could do to produce a more favorable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, I would do it,” Ron DeSantis said in a video he filmed from Florida, announcing the end of his presidential campaign. “We don’t have a clear path to victory,” he said.

“I am today, suspending my campaign,” said DeSantis, before endorsing President Trump and taking a swipe at Nikki Haley, who DeSantis bested by just over 2 points in Iowa.

Haley is expected to make her one and only 2024 stand in New Hampshire, though like DeSantis in Iowa, she’s expected to lose to Trump severely.

“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” said DeSantis. “They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance and they see Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him,” he added, also mentioning his “disagreements” with Trump over “the coronavirus pandemic” and “his elevation of Anthony Fauci.”

“[President Trump] has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear,” DeSantis went on. “[We can’t go back to] The repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents. The days of putting Americans last, of kowtowing to large corporations, of caving to woke ideology, are over.”

Watch the full DeSantis forfeit announcement below: 

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

– Winston Churchill pic.twitter.com/ECoR8YeiMm

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 21, 2024

Chris Christie was caught on a livestream hot mic before ending his presidential campaign admitting that Nikki Haley will be “smoked” by 45th President Trump in the New Hampshire primary, where her campaign appears to be dumping all of its marbles, and went on to say that Ron DeSantis is “petrified” of what’s to come when he finally faces Trump in the upcoming Iowa Caucuses.

“She’s gonna get smoked and you and I both know it,” Christie can be heard saying into the hot mic, with his conversation leaking out over his campaign’s own livestream airways before he officially dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. “She’s not up to this,” he went on.

“She’s still 20 points behind Trump in New Hampshire, right?” an unidentified man can be heard asking Christie.

“Oh yeah!” Christie, the former New Jersey Governor who based nearly his entire 2024 presidential campaign on his hatred for Trump, who refused to hire him to work in the White House, responded.

“[Trump’s] still gonna carry Iowa, right?” the unidentified man then asked Christie.

“Oh yeah!” Christie responded. “I talked to – DeSantis called me,” he said. “Petrified.”

“He’s probably getting out after Iowa,” the man said back before the audio cut out.

Listen to the full hot mic audio recording below: 

BREAKING: While waiting for Chris Christie announcement, he can be heard on a hot mic criticizing @NikkiHaley while talking to someone.

“She’s gonna get smoked,” he says. “You and I both know it, she’s not up to this.”

He also claims DeSantis called him, then feed is cut. pic.twitter.com/3Lrz2t6BQ8

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) January 10, 2024

In his subsequent speech, Christie made sure that his followers knew that, even though he’s failed yet again in his bid to be President of the United States, his anti-Trump fight is far from over.

“I want to promise you this, I am gonna make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be President of the United States again,” Christie said. “And that’s more important than my own personal ambitions.”

Watch a video clip from Christie’s drop-out speech below: 

Chris Christie just said he’s going to make it his mission to make sure Trump doesn’t become president again

Screw this scumbag pic.twitter.com/PCxP4M2wvT

— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) January 10, 2024

After news of the Christie hot mic broke, President Trump, who has a commanding lead in virtually every single GOP primary poll that’s been performed and leads Joe Biden in general election polling, took to Truth Social, writing that, with Christie out of the race, “I might even get to like him again!”

“Anyway,” Trump wrote, “he was just caught on a hot mic making a very truthful statement.”

A desperate Ron DeSantis, who now trails not just President Trump but also Nikki Haley in many 2024 GOP Primary polls, used the persecution of the 45th President to manipulate voters into supporting his campaign when he joined Kaitlan Collins for a CNN town hall.

“What I would tell primary voters is, uh, whatever may be beneficial in the primary doesn’t mean it’s beneficial in the general election,” DeSantis said.

“And I think a 2024 election where the Democrats get to run against a candidate that is going through all this stuff, that is going to give the Democrats an advantage,” he went on, seemingly lifting pro-persecution comments straight from the corporate media, who have openly celebrated efforts to get President Trump kicked off the presidential ballot, thrown in prison, or both.

According to DeSantis, the persecution of President Trump is working, and it’s “just a reality” that the unconstitutional cases against him are too much to overcome, despite his massive lead over the GOP field, and widening lead over Joe Biden in the latest polls.

“If they somehow convict, then the Democrats are gonna win the election,” DeSantis went on. “Why do we even want to go down that road?”

Watch the video below: 

BREAKING: @RonDeSantis delivers blistering assault on Donald Trump, urges Republican voters not to nominate a man who might be convicted before the 2024 presidential election, thereby handing over victory to the Democrats. WATCH pic.twitter.com/dE50MXqA9n

— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) January 5, 2024

Related: Ron DeSantis Gave His ONLY Post-Debate Spin Room Interview To NBC News, Then He Praised NBC News

The Democrat and corporate media parroting session from Ron DeSantis came less than two weeks ahead of the Iowa caucuses, where the DeSantis campaign appears to have invested all of its marbles. DeSantis has campaigned in each of the state’s 99 counties and received the endorsement of the state’s Governor, Kim Reynolds, who recently showed support for satanism.

Despite his best efforts and the money of some of America’s foremost globalist political donors, DeSantis, along with the rest of the GOP field, is expected to be taken to the woodshed by President Trump on caucus day, January 15th.

As of January 5th, on average, more than 50% of likely GOP Iowa caucusgoers say they’ll be supporting President Trump. Just over 18% of them say they’ll be supporting Ron DeSantis, while just over 15% of them plan on backing Nikki Haley.

Related Video: Nikki Haley Calls for War With Iran Over Israeli Conflict

Journalist Megyn Kelly obliterated Ron DeSantis at Wednesday night’s News Nation GOP debate, in which Kelly was part of a team of moderators tossing questions at the Republican presidential candidates taking on 45th President Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination.

“Governor DeSantis, your campaign and its Super PAC have spent the most money, had the most high net worth donors, and had a wave of momentum coming into this race after your big re-election win in Florida,” said Kelly.

“You were seen by many as the candidate most likely to consolidate the non-Trump field. But here we are, a month out from the first real votes, and you haven’t managed to do it,” she went on, prompting audible laughter from the audience before the microphones picking that laughter up were seemingly cut off.

“In fact,” added Kelly, “Nikki Haley is beating you in New Hampshire and South Carolina now, and closing in on you in Iowa. Not to mention Trump, who is not only dominating the early states but is beating you in Florida by over 30 points.”

Kelly went on to ask DeSantis if polls showing Trump with a massive lead over the entire field mean that voters are telling DeSantis “not no, but not now” in relation to his presidential run, prompting DeSantis to deny the widespread polling that shows President Trump leading by as much as 60 points over his nearest competitor.

“So we have a great idea in America that the voters actually make these decisions, not pundits or pollsters,” DeSantis said to Kelly, going on to add that he is “sick” of hearing about the polls and trying to compare his own campaign’s polling woes to incorrect pollster predictions about a big red wave in the 2022 midterms.

Those results though, were largely due to DeSantis-adjacent Republicans (including those in his home state of Florida) working with Kevin McCarthy to snuff out pro-Trump America First candidates and surrender competitive districts to Democrats – in what was

Watch Megyn Kelly Roast Ron DeSantis Below: 

#Video: Megyn Kelly DESTROYS Ron DeSantis at GOP Debate.

Look at the expression on Ron’s face. This is a man who has been neutered and humiliated time and time again on the national stage. pic.twitter.com/lN1Z5SgZjA

— Frankie Stockes (@realStockes) December 7, 2023

Related: Trump Posts Video Mocking DeSantis for ‘Wearing Lifts’ in Newsome Debate ‘No One’ Cares About

45th President Donald J. Trump posted a video to Truth Social mocking Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for “wearing lifts” and using a step stool to make himself appear taller in his Fox News “Battle of Loserville” debate against California Governor Gavin Newsom.

In the 55-second video roasting the “Battle of Loserville” that was posted by President Trump on Truth Social, the voices of Sean Hannity, Ron DeSantis, and Gavin Newsom are dubbed over with mock audio. The video used actual footage from the debate which had been edited for comedic purposes and kicks off with Hannity welcoming viewers back to the “debate that no one really gives a sh*t about” before Ron DeSantis is completely and totally dragged.

“Are you a short, insecure little man that likes to wear lifts inside your cowboy boots?” the satirical Hannity voice asks Newsom and DeSantis in the video. “Yes or no answer please.”

“No” replies Newsom.

“You know what, my wife bought me those lifts and I happen to like them! Okay!?” says DeSantis.

“He’s even using a stepping stool, I can see it from over here,” says Newsom, before Hanitty gives the Florida Governor an ultimatum, telling him that “we clearly said no step stools! You either get off of it or you’re leaving this stage right now!”

Watch the full hilarious video below: 

Haters will say this is fake. pic.twitter.com/Kww3CaHNVQ

— National File (@NationalFile) December 1, 2023

Though the video above is obviously satirical, questions surrounding Ron DeSantis’s height have become somewhat of an unexpected campaign issue, as speculation has grown that the Florida Governor is wearing shoe lifts in conjunction with his cowboy boots, to make himself appear taller – a charge that the DeSantis campaign has vehemently denied.

While DeSantis has claimed that he is 5’11”, he appears to be the same height as his 5’9″ wife in several photographs and is far shorter than President Trump, who is 6’3″, when the two are pictured side-by-side.

The height of Ron DeSantis and the possibility that he is wearing shoe lifts has become such a widespread topic, that Politico did an investigative report on the matter, consulting with three “expert shoemakers” who said that “Ron DeSantis is probably wearing height boosters.”

Americans for Prosperity has officially endorsed Nimarata Nikki Haley for President of the United States in 2024, with the Koch Brothers-funded and GOP establishment-aligned political advocacy group saying that it will do “everything” it can to take down the MAGA movement and make Nikki Haley the GOP nominee for President. The endorsement comes as the uni-party establishment grows more and more desperate to stop the Trump campaign, which has the support of a whopping 64% of GOP voters according to a new 7-way primary poll, a far cry from the measly 10% won by Nikki Haley in the same survey.

The Koch Brothers are all in for Nikki Haley in 2024 as Americans for Prosperity, led by Charles Koch, has announced that it will do “everything” it can to support the former South Carolina Governor and United Nations Ambassador in her run for the White House. Americans for Prosperity, which routinely bankrolls the GOP establishment, has long been an opponent of the MAGA movement, thanks to its support for open borders and opposition to America First trade policies.

In 2018, President Trump slammed Americans for Prosperity, the Koch Brothers, and their overall political influence operation as “globalist” and a “total joke.”

Related: SPLC, Koch Organizations Go Into Full Panic Mode Over Trump Immigration Moratorium

In a post made to X announcing the endorsement of Nikki Haley, Americans for Prosperity Action, the campaign arm of Americans for Prosperity, rattled off a few generic, abstract talking points explaining its support for the Haley campaign. The American People, AFP Action claimed, “desperately need” the former South Carolina Governor in the White House, to address an unspecified list of “tough problems” and move the nation “forward” with her presence.

Nikki Haley “represents a new generation of conservative leaders who will solve tough problems and lead our nation forward,” AFP Action wrote in the post.

“Her positive vision for America is what we desperately need.”

“That’s why we’re proud to endorse Nikki Haley for President!”

A link included in the post leads to an AFP webpage dedicated to Haley’s presidential campaign, where Haley supporters can download a “social media toolkit” full of pro-Haley graphics to be posted on social media.

The page also has a message asking voters to “Join AFP Action and support Nikki Haley for President of the United States.”

“It’s time to turn the page on Joe Biden and Donald Trump and choose Nikki Haley. Join AFP Action and support Nikki Haley for President of the United States,” the page reads.

.@NikkiHaley represents a new generation of conservative leaders who will solve the tough problems and lead our country forward.

Her positive vision for America is what we desperately need.

That's why we're proud to endorse Nikki Haley for President!https://t.co/sEfQSmd9pz pic.twitter.com/CDmMBtXM1N

— Americans for Prosperity Action (@AFPAction) November 28, 2023

Video: Nikki Haley Calls for War With Iran Over Israeli Conflict

Americans for Prosperity’s endorsement of Nikki Haley puts the finishing touches on the uni-party establishment’s abandonment of the presidential campaign of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and sends a signal that the never-Trump movement is now coalescing behind Haley.

After AFP’s endorsement of Haley was announced, a spokesman for the fledgling DeSantis campaign released a bizarre response statement, claiming that, somehow, AFP’s endorsement of Nikki Haley was actually an endorsement of President Trump, because Haley is “a moderate who has no mathematical pathway of defeating the former president.”

Ironically, the very reason that DeSantis has bled support to Haley is that donors and never-Trumpers have determined that he, in fact, has no mathematical pathway of defeating Trump.

Related Video: NC GOP Used Koch-tied Voting App With No Paper Trail for Chairman’s Vote

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested an illegal alien in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts who has been convicted in his home country but has failed to serve his prison sentence for raping a 5-year-old child.

The report details state that 37-year-old Saulo Cardona Ferreira had “multiple criminal convictions” in Brazil in 2019 for the rape but fled to avoid the 14-year prison sentence.

ICE said Ferreira, one of 1000 daily “gotaways” at the southern border, entered the US at an unknown time and location. He was taken into custody by ICE’s Fugitive Operations Team near a vacation locale in Massachusetts, read the report. 

According to Fox News, a rep from the agency stated it had been tipped off from a law enforcement data review, highlighting Ferreira’s whereabouts on September 28. ICE eventually found his location on November 14.

Fox News reported he is now awaiting to be seen before an immigration judge. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons wrote in a release:

This undocumented Brazilian national represented a significant threat to the inhabitants of Martha’s Vineyard. He sexually assaulted a five-year-old child in his homeland and then ran from authorities when held accountable for his actions. ERO Boston will not allow such predators to threaten our residents. We will continue to apprehend and remove anyone who attempts to use our New England community as a refuge from justice.

ICE has not released the complete data for illegal border crossings for the 2023 fiscal year, but May already shows 530,000, which is expected to set the record from the previous year.

Regarding what we know of the individuals entering the states, in FY 2022, ICE arrested 46,396 illegal immigrants with known criminal backgrounds, including 8,164 sex and sexual assault offenses and 1,114 kidnapping offenses.

NEW: 37-year old Illegal immigrant Saulo Cardosa who was convicted of r*ping a 5-year old in Brazil, has been found living on Martha's Vineyard.

In 2019, Cardosa was sentenced in Brazil to serve 14 years in prison for r*ping a child.

After the conviction, Cardosa decided to… pic.twitter.com/mVT8D1I4Fb

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 18, 2023

Several Republican governors thought to “own the libs” by sending migrants to deep blue cities. Last year, Gon. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), attempting to springboard himself into the Oval Office, flew dozens of migrants deeper into the US to various blue cities and regions, including Martha’s Vineyard.

Fox News reported that “there appears to be no connection” to either flight that transported Ferreira and that he “likely arrived years earlier.” However, it still remains unclear whether DeSantis shuttled this migrant to Martha’s Vineyard.

Democrats Use Migrant Crisis to Urbanize Long Island, Change Demographics

This arrest comes amid a historic invasion at the southern border and an inbound presidential election. Still, the primary topic of the debates and Republican discussion remains another country, as over 2 million encounters are already documented by CBP this year.

Across the country, former so-called “sanctuary cities” are begging the federal government for assistance. Officials from Massachusetts and New York are calling this a “federal problem,” while the Biden administration has yet to provide a meaningful response.

Garland’s DOJ Rejects Death Penalty Against MS-13 ‘Kingpins’ Charged in Seven Murders