'Political mercenary': Ana Navarro calls out former Republican, then independent, and now Democrat Charlie Crist to his face



Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist, who has lost three statewide elections running in different parties, was grilled on his long record of political flip-flops by fellow Floridian and former GOP strategist Ana Navarro during an appearance on "The View."

Navarro, a longtime critic of Crist, called him a "political mercenary" and asked him to explain why skeptical voters should believe any of his positions are sincerely held.

"You've been in sixteen elections in the last three decades. In that time you've gone from a staunch Republican, to an independent, to a Democrat," Navarro said Friday. "Your own words, Charlie, have come back to haunt you, have been used against you."

"The View" cut to a clip of a robocall Crist recorded during his 2006 campaign for governor of Florida as a Republican. In the message, Crist says he is "pro-life," opposes "amnesty" for illegal immigrants, supports traditional marriage and opposes gay adoption, and opposes raising taxes and big spending.

"Floridians need a consistent, conservative governor that they can trust," Crist says in the robocall.

More than a decade later, as a Democrat, Crist has changed his position on all of those issues. Navarro demanded an explanation from him.

"Those are your words. What would you say to skeptics like me who think you've changed parties because you're a political mercenary and it was out of convenience?" Navarro asked. "How should we trust you?"

\u201cAna Navarro plays an old robocall Crist put out and calls him a "political mercenary and demands he explain his constant flip-flopping.\u201d
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@Nicholas Fondacaro) 1662738379

"I changed parties because my party changed," Crist replied. "It started with the rise of the Tea Party back in '09 and 2010, and it really has metastasized since then. And, you know, I just couldn't stomach it any more."

He gave an obligatory disclaimer that there's "a lot of good Republicans" in Florida and the rest of the country before saying "the party has changed dramatically from what it was when I was a Republican."

Then he accused the GOP and his opponent Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) of being "anti-minority" and making it harder for people to vote.

But Navarro pointed out that Republicans still still support many of the policies Crist claimed to support in his 2006 robocall.

"You were embracing a lot of the policy issues back then that Republicans still embrace now, so what has changed?" Navarro pressed.

Crist repeated his assertion that the GOP has changed "dramatically."

Sunny Hostin then asked if Crist had changed his views on gay marriage. "Yeah, about the same time President Obama did," Crist responded. He also said he is "pro-choice" on abortion and pointed to votes he cast as a Florida state lawmaker preventing pro-life legislation from passing.

\u201cDespite Navarro noting that GOP positions have largely stayed the same, Crist keeps insisting it's the Republican Party that has changed.\nSunny Hostin pushes him on gay marriage and abortion.\u201d
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@Nicholas Fondacaro) 1662738379

Crist explained that he cast a tying vote on the state Senate health committee to kill a 24-hour waiting period bill. He also said that as a Republican governor he vetoed "an anti-abortion bill" that would have required a woman to view an ultrasound before seeking an abortion.

"In my six years almost now in Congress, I've got a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood," Crist said, touting his endorsement from the abortion provider in the race against DeSantis.

Previously, Navarro has made clear she is no friend of Crist's. In tweets from 2014 and 2015, she called the former Florida governor a "shallow, feckless, rudderless, spineless, disloyal, career politician."

\u201cCharlie Crist will be on The View today.\n\nHere's what co-host @ananavarro had to say about him in the past:\u201d
— Brendon Leslie (@Brendon Leslie) 1662731636

School choice advocate slams Charlie Crist as a 'flip-flopper': 'He's running to lose'



A spokeswoman for a national school choice advocacy group slammed Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist for reversing his position on school choice and selecting teachers union president Karla Hernandez-Mats as his running mate.

Denisha Merriweather, a Florida native and the director of public relations and content marketing for the American Federation for Children, called Crist a "flip-flopper" and predicted that he'll lose the upcoming election to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is seeking a second term.

"Charlie Crist has been a flip-flopper since I can remember," Merriweather told Fox News in an interview Wednesday. "My first engagement with Charlie Crist was in high school when he signed the expansion bill for Florida's school choice program into law. I was there behind him with the signing pen, and he flip-flopped. He's been saying since then that he's not going to support school choice, that he wants to pull it down."

"I don't think he's going to win this next gubernatorial election," she added. "He's running for no reason. He's running to lose."

Crist is a former Republican governor of Florida who served from 2007 to 2011. He ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2010 as an independent before changing his party affiliation and winning a U.S. House seat as a Democrat in 2016. He won the Aug. 23 gubernatorial primary election, defeating Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried for the Democratic nomination to face DeSantis in November.

As a Republican governor in 2010, Crist signed an expansion of Florida's tax credit scholarship program, which provides funding for parents to send their children to better schools. But as a Democrat on the House Committee on Appropriations, Crist supported a 2019 budget that would have cut funding for charter schools by $40 million and potentially cut off some charter schools from federal funds altogether.

Merriweather is a graduate of Florida's tax credit scholarship program. She told Fox News that she failed the third grade twice in public school before using a scholarship to attend a private school, which changed her life.

As a high school student, Merriweather was present when Crist signed the legislation expanding the tax credit scholarship program in 2010 and says she received the pen he used to sign the bill.

\u201cThat's me in the picture receiving the signing pen of him expanding a school choice in FL. He has since turned his back on students. What a shame! \n\n#NOTMYVOTE\u201d
— Denisha Allen (Merriweather) (@Denisha Allen (Merriweather)) 1661800888

"He turned his back on students and parents in the state of Florida," Merriweather told Fox News.

She praised DeSantis for supporting parental rights in education and expanding school choice.

"Parents want choice. I've interacted with parents who've said that they would change their party, they would go from being a Democrat to being a Republican if that meant that they would have more school choice in the state," she said.

But she had harsh words for Crist and his running mate Hernandez-Mats, who fought to keep schools closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and has criticized parents who have become involved in school board meetings.

\u201cFor any of you following the school board meetings, you know that the craziness is real. God be with us. #antivaxxers #disinformation #misinformation\u201d
— Karla Hern\u00e1ndez (@Karla Hern\u00e1ndez) 1634867231

"Picking the teachers union president of Miami-Dade to be his running mate, it's really a slap in the face, it's disgusting, really," Allen said.

Watch:

Charlie Crist Says All DeSantis Voters Have ‘Hate In Their Heart’

The Democratic nominee for the Florida gubernatorial race showed his contempt for DeSantis supporters Wednesday, saying he does not want their votes this November and claiming they have “hate in [their] heart.” In a presser as the newly elected Democratic nominee, Crist wasted no time blasting DeSantis. “He is anti-freedom Ron. He doesn’t respect your […]

Florida ADL rebukes Democrat Nikki Fried for comparing DeSantis to Hitler



The Florida chapter of the Anti-Defamation League rebuked Nikki Fried, the state's Democratic Agricultural Commissioner and a candidate for governor, after she compared her would-be Republican rival Gov. Ron DeSantis to Hitler.

In a social media post, the Florida Anti-Defamation League said Fried's comments were "offensive."

"While public officials may have disagreements over policies, comparisons to the Holocaust and Nazism are inappropriate, offensive, and trivialize this unique tragedy in human history," ADL Florida said.

"It's vital for all public officials to challenge each other based on the substance and merits of the issue at hand and not invoke comparisons to Hitler or Naizism. We will be reaching out to [Nikki Fried] to discuss our concerns," the group added.

It's vital for all public officials to challenge each other based on the substance and merits of the issue at hand and not invoke comparisons to Hitler or Nazism. We will be reaching out to @NikkiFriedFL to discuss our concerns.
— ADL Florida (@ADL Florida) 1642362368

The rebuke comes after Fried likened DeSantis to a "dictator" on a radio talk show last week. She accused the governor of "doing everything possible to take away power from local governments, taking away people's abilities to protest, making it harder to vote, talking about ... banning books."

"I'm sorry. I'm a student of history too. I saw the rise of Hitler," Fried said on NPR's Florida Roundup.

Her comments startled the host, who asked her to clarify what she meant.

"Are you comparing DeSantis to Hitler?" the host asked.

"In a lot of ways, yes," Fried doubled down.

She cited DeSantis' proposal to revive the Florida State Guard, just like 22 other states, as an example of how he supposedly is an authoritarian acting "for the sole purposes of his power."

"Do I think that we're going to get to the extent of Hitler's power? Of course not," Fried said after the host mentioned that some people might find her comments offensive. "But the rise of his power and what he did to scapegoat certain parts, especially the Jewish community in Germany, and how he utilized going after the media, going after and scapegoating people ... that's what this governor is doing."

After the interview, DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw slammed Fried and said her take was "as offensive as it is absurd."

"With this hysterical comparison, Fried not only smears millions of Floridians as Nazis, but also trivializes Hitler's crimes against humanity," Pushaw said.

But on Twitter Sunday Fried was unrepentant.

"Ron DeSantis and his anti-democratic demagoguery is a danger to our state, our country, and yes, the world," she wrote. "Choose your own historical example if you want, but it's the damn truth."

Ron DeSantis and his anti-democratic demagoguery is a danger to our state, our country, and yes, the world. \n\nChoose your own historical example if you want, but it\u2019s the damn truth.
— Nikki Fried (@Nikki Fried) 1642354247

It should be noted that "demagoguery" is defined as "political activity or practices that seek support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational argument." An example may be comparing your political opponent to Hitler or Nazism to stir up voter prejudices instead of making a rational argument against his policies.

Former Trump ally Roger Stone threatens to run against DeSantis in 2022, unless governor promises not to run for president in 2024



Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative and former Trump campaign associate, said he will run for governor of Florida in 2022 to split the Republican vote and defeat Gov. Ron DeSantis — unless DeSantis promises he will not run for president in 2024.

Stone told WFOR-TV that he would run as a Libertarian or some other third-party candidate to siphon votes away from DeSantis and help a Democrat become governor unless DeSantis pledged to serve all four years of his second term, should he win reelection.

"I believe that Gov. DeSantis, assuming he's going to run for re-election, should pledge to the people of Florida that he will fill out all four years of a second term," Stone said on Friday. "What I don't want to see is for him to be reelected and then immediately abandon Florida to run off and run for president, particularly if he's running against Donald Trump."

DeSantis, who was first elected in 2018 and announced in October he will run for reelection, has become one of the most well-known and popular Republican governors in the nation for his anti-lockdown, anti-mandate leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. His record as governor, relative youth at age 43, and experience in Washington D.C. as a former congressman has led many to consider him a strong contender for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, should he want it.

Speaking for himself, DeSantis said in September that speculation about 2024 is "nonsense" and that he's focused on re-election next year. Of course, politicians typically deny that they want to run for president when they're thinking about running for president.

But whatever presidential ambitions DeSantis may or may not have are largely in the shadow of former President Donald Trump's apparent ambitions to retake the White House from Joe Biden. Though he's made no official announcement, Trump has repeatedly told his supporters they're going to be "very happy" with his ultimate decision on 2024.

The "will he, won't he" speculation over Trump has frozen other prospective GOP presidential candidates, who would face the daunting task of mounting a primary challenge against the former president, who is still overwhelmingly popular with Republicans, if he runs. A Trump comeback campaign is likely to dominate resources that are necessary to run for president — namely big-money donors, grassroots volunteers, and endorsements.

Some of Trump's allies, like Stone, are already playing offense for Trump by attempting to sandbag a potential primary challenger before anyone has even started a campaign.

"I just don't think Florida should be a stepping stone to the president for any person," Stone told WFOR-TV.

He said if he runs against DeSantis, it won't be because he thinks he can win. The point isn't to win, it's to make DeSantis lose, which would severely weaken his chances of ever becoming president.

"The people who love Ron DeSantis the most are of course the people who have never met him," Stone said. "I don't think that I would have to get many votes to change the results of this race."

If Stone does run, he previewed a possible avenue of attack he'll use against DeSantis last week, when he attacked the governor for neglecting to audit the 2020 election in Florida.

"If Florida governor Ron DeSantis does not order an audit of the 2020 election to expose the fact that there are over 1 million phantom voters on the Florida voter rolls in the Sunshine state I may be forced to seek the Libertarian Party nomination for governor Florida in 2022 #ByeRon," Stone wrote on social media.

His claim about "phantom voters" appears baseless. Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden by more than 370,000 votes in Florida in 2020. Governor DeSantis' office told WFOR-TV it conducted a pre- and post-election audit of the election and did not find any significant irregularities.

In 2019, Stone was convicted of seven felony accounts including making false statements to the FBI, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice. Stone would be in prison today were it not for Trump, who commuted his sentence in July 2020.

Democratic Governors Association views DeSantis as 'unstoppable' in 2022: Report



The Democratic Governors Association appears to have designated the 2022 gubernatorial race in Florida as a lost cause and will not give any Democratic candidates looking to defeat Gov. Ron DeSantis any significant financial support.

Politico reported that the DGA will instead prioritize defending incumbent Democratic governors in other states amid a "growing sense that Democrats can't win statewide elections in Florida":

The decision to withhold resources in Florida deals a blow to Democrats eager to knock off DeSantis, a nationally ascendant Republican with future White House aspirations. It also indicates that Florida is losing its position as the largest swing state, with some national groups deciding that, at least for now, it's center-right terrain.

The perception that DeSantis is unbeatable has left national Democratic groups like the DGA to weigh whether they should spend resources in Florida, a hugely expensive state with 10 media markets, or use that cash to help incumbents in cheaper states.

"I do think, and I can't stress this enough, the DGA is playing mostly defense this year, and that's a monumental change," said Jonathan Ducote, a veteran Democratic consultant who has worked with the group. "When I think about Florida statewide elections, the number one thing you have to ask yourself is do you have the money to communicate in a really expensive state?"

In a statement to Politico, a DGA official asserted that DeSantis is vulnerable and criticized his record on the COVID-19 pandemic. But Democratic consultants who are aware of the DGA's plans and spoke with the outlet about them said there are races in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Arizona with better opportunities to unseat Republican governors.

"They might do some money, but they are not going the way they have been in the past. There are not going to be multi-million-dollar checks" for whichever Florida Democrat challenges DeSantis, one consultant said.

Ahead of his 2022 re-election campaign, DeSantis appears to be in a far stronger position than three years ago when he narrowly defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum in a race so close it triggered a machine recount.

A recent poll from the Saint Leo University Polling Institute found DeSantis holding double-digit leads over potential Democratic challengers, including former Gov. Charlie Crist and state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried.

2022 #FLGov General Election Poll:\n\nRon DeSantis (R-Inc) 47% (+12)\nCharlie Crist (D) 35%\n.\nRon DeSantis (R-Inc) 46% (+13)\nNikki Fried (D) 33% \n.\nRon DeSantis (R-Inc) 47% (+19)\nAnnette Taddeo (D) 28% \n\n@SaintLeoPolls ~ 500 Adults ~ 10/17-10/23\nhttps://polls.saintleo.edu/6405-2/

— PollTracker (@PollTrackerUSA) 1636038057

DeSantis held a combined job approval rating of 56.4% in the poll, with 40.6% disapproving of his performance as governor.

The governor has also raised a formidable $50 million war chest for his campaign from enthusiastic supporters nationwide, some of whom believe he could be a strong candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

DeSantis' strengths, combined with a national environment that's unfavorable to Democrats given President Joe Biden's flailing approval rating (42.9%), make clear that barring an unforeseen change of fortune, the Republican governor seems well on his way to re-election, and then who knows where next?