Ron DeSantis is openly recruiting anti-vaxxer cops — even though he ‘furiously’ denies it: report

During a recent interview with Fox News/Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, far-right Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis indicated that he would welcome anti-vaxxer police in the Sunshine State — although he is now denying that he ever said that. Never Trump conservative Charlie Sykes, this week in his column for The Bulwark, examines what DeSantis had to say and shows why his words were damning.

"Over the weekend," Sykes explains, "Florida's Ron DeSantis suggested that his state would offer $5000 signing bonuses to out-of-state cops who left their jobs because they had defied vaccine mandates. Now, DeSantis is furiously insisting that he did no such thing."

After drawing criticism for his comments during the Bartiromo interview, Sykes notes, DeSantis walked them back and insisted, "It's for officers, period. It has nothing to do with their vaccination status."

But Sykes offers, with his column, a transcript of that interview, noting that DeSantis "talks about the bonuses quite clearly in the context of the vaccine mandates."

During the interview on "Sunday Morning Futures," Bartiromo asked DeSantis to weigh in on Chicago police officers who are "off the streets" after "defying the vaccine" in their city. DeSantis clearly believed that the anti-vaxxer police in Chicago were being treated unfairly, telling Bartiromo, "I can tell you, Maria, in Florida, not only are we going to want to protect the law enforcement and all the jobs. We're actually actively working to recruit out-of-state law enforcement, because we do have needs in our police and our sheriff's departments. So, in the next legislative session, I'm going to hopefully sign legislation that gives a $5000 bonus to any out-of-state law enforcement that relocates to Florida. So, NYPD, Minneapolis, Seattle, if you're not being treated well, we will treat you better here. You can fill important needs for us, and we'll compensate you as a result."

Sykes observes that DeSantis has had a "tortured balancing act on the vaccine issue," pandering to anti-vaxxers while insisting that he isn't against vaccines.

"Given the state of the GOP today," Sykes laments, "it may even be enough to propel him to the White House."