BUCK: Youāre gonna be spending time in the state of Florida in the months ahead, Iām gonna be spending some time in the state of Florida in the months ahead, and here is Governor Ron DeSantis, just letting everybody knowā¦ This isā¦ Here you go. Itās all you need. Itās about ten seconds or so of the sanity that we could all use right now.
DESANTIS: In Florida, weāve never arguably done better in hospitality than weāve been doing lately because people know they come to Florida to vacation, theyāre gonna be able to be treated with respect and free people. Theyāre not gonna have to show medical papers to get a beer. Theyāre not gonna have to do that to go get lunch.
BUCK: āā¦not gonna have to do show medical papers to get a beer.ā Sign me up. In fact, Iām already signed up. Iām going to the Atlantic coast of Florida down to the Miami area. Weāre going down to the Gulf Coast of Florida. Whatās up?
CLAY: Weāre gonna be in Fort Myers.
BUCK: Fort Myers.
CLAY: Go down to a bunch of our affiliates. Iāve already done shows from Miami, youāre gonna be doing shows from Miami, and I think itās important what Ron DeSantis there just said. It hasnāt gotten as much attention as it deserves. Florida has 100% recovered their tourism numbers from 2019. Now in 2021, they have the lowest rate of covid ā at least yesterday when I was looking ā in the entire country.
And there was a great article ā we were talking about this off air, Buck ā in Politico where all of the Democrats in Floridaā¦ Remember now there are more registered Republicans than Democrats in Florida for the first time ever. They are panicked over what they see as a potential ass kicking coming for them statewide in 2022.
BUCK: And this is also why you see that Florida has been so important as an experiment, if you will, in democracy and representative government in this era of covid authoritarianism, because it has allowed for there to be, in essence, a control group. More so than really any other state. There have been some states. Tennessee is obviously a lot better than New York.
Texas was better than New York, although Texas was a littleā¦ You know, Abbott was a little shaky there on the covid stuff for a while. Heās gotten a bit better. They got better this year for sure just being reasonable, right? Not being completely insane like they are here in New York City, but also in state like Florida, even if you were to sayā¦
This comes up with our friend Karol Markowicz who will be with us next week. She wrote an article in the New York Post. Sohrab Ahmari, another New York Post guy, wrote an article in American Greatness about it. Heās the editorial director for the New York Post. Theyāre leaving. Theyāre done. Theyāre leaving New York for, I believe, Florida.
I know Karol is. I donāt know where Sohrab is going. And people say, āOh, why are you doing that?ā And itās not just about one leader, although Ron DeSantis has made a huge impact in Florida itās also about the people there people in Florida have been conditioned and youāre roughly a 50-50 state maybe 52-48, Republican Democrat. But people are more used to being normal and so they act more normally!
The problem weāre coming ā and that stays no matter what, right? There is a long tail to that phenomenon. The problem you come across in places like New York and California is that everyoneās anxiety and obedience has been tuned up and tightened so much, that they donāt even know how to be normal anymore. There are a lot of peopleā¦
Clay, I walk into this studio every day here and there are people outside ā and I donāt mean one or two. Itās about 30-40% of people you come across are alone, outside, with masks on. And not masks to keep their face warm, okay? Iām talking about medical cloth mask thing which just makes you uncomfortable and annoyed all day. I donāt even know if theyāll stop if Fauci tells them to stop.
Thatās how crazy it is, and thatās why we talk about like how Florida has hospitality is doing well. If youāve been living in a place like New York or California for New York or California audienceā¦ Texas people have had it pretty good. Theyāve been pretty good. Florida people obviously had it great. New York and California, you go to Florida and it feels different everywhere. Even more than just the policies, people feel like they are calm and normal, by and large. Huge difference.
CLAY: Itās an oasis of freedom, as Ron DeSantis has labeled it ā and really itās all over the red states.