It struck me last week when Governor Ron DeSantis blasted the debt limit deal made between House GOPers and President Biden. Yet DeSantis has grown state power and the size government in Florida while increasing spending and taking federal handouts. And as Congressman Dusty Johnson (R-South Dakota) mentioned earlier this week, DeSantis himself voted for similar agreements when in Congress.

“It’s said that you campaign in poetry, and you govern in prose. Man alive, are those comments proof of that,” Johnson said. “Ron DeSantis, he has voted for debt ceiling increases in the past when he’s in the House. I know those guys. They should have the flexibility to change their minds, but they should be honest with the voters that when they’ve been here in the past, they’ve raised the debt ceiling.”

Rep. Dusty Johnson to NewsNation last week

DeSantis signed the state’s first $100 bn budget and unlike his predecessor Rick Scott who made a point of rejecting federal handouts, has taken money sent to the state by the Biden Administration gladly.

Some key points:

• DeSantis accepted about $13 bn in total pandemic relief funding coming from the federal government between 2020 through 2022.
• The $1,000 checks DeSantis authorized for teachers and first responders and touted as his contribution came entirely from federal funds.
• DeSantis has been credited with pushing 20 critical infrastructure projects in the state – this money almost entirely came from federal funds made available by the Biden Administration and then-Democratic Congress. When Rick Scott was Governor he rejected similar infrastructure spending from the feds.
• Since DeSantis became Governor, generally 30-35% of the state budget can be traced back to federal funds.

Chances are DeSantis newfound fiscal conservatism and small government rhetoric is temporary. For someone so wedded to the use of state power and statism as an ideology, it’s impossible for him to make this complete 180 he may want to imply he’s making.