Ron DeSantis pretends he isn't at fault for book ban he signed into law

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, thoroughly spanked on the public stage by Donald Trump (and Gov. Gavin Newsom), is back in his home state trying to clean up some of the mess he made. On Thursday, DeSantis and his team released an announcement that he will continue “to debunk the false narrative that the state of Florida bans books,” calling on the state legislature to “make necessary adjustments so that we can prevent abuses in the objection process and ensure that districts aren’t overwhelmed by frivolous challenges.”

Unable to admit that HB 1069, which he signed into law in May 2023, has led to Nazi-esque book bans, DeSantis’s announcement instead blamed “people [who] have abused this process in an effort to score cheap political points.” It is a rich sentiment coming from the guy who appointed the co-founder of the far-right Moms for Liberty to the state ethics commission last fall in an attempt to drum up excitement for his flailing presidential campaign.