The Cost of Ron DeSantis’s Ideological Purity
Updated at 10:18 a.m. ET on September 4, 2023
You don’t often see someone turn down $346 million in free money. But that’s effectively what Florida’s Ron DeSantis is doing.
The Republican governor and presidential candidate has blocked his state from getting energy-efficiency incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act, the signature Biden-administration policy that passed in 2022, Politico noted last week. DeSantis vetoed a request by the GOP-dominated state legislature to establish a $5 million rebate program—a program that is essential to accessing $341 million more.
DeSantis hasn’t explained hisframes this as a story about the coming presidential race, saying the denial could “blunt the political impact of legislation that some Democrats believe will be a key factor in the 2024 election.” But another and more salient way to think about it is that it’s part of many Republican politicians’ strong commitment in recent years to ideological purity—and owning the libs—even at the expense of impoverishing and immiserating their own constituents.
