Great schools florida: School Ratings & Reviews for Public & Private Schools: GreatSchools
Top 10 Best Orange County Public Schools (2023)
School (Math and Reading Proficiency)
Location
Grades
Students
Rank: #11.
Orlando Gifted Academy
Magnet School
Math: 92% | Reading: 96%
Rank:
Top 1%
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1121 N Fern Creek Ave
Orlando, FL 32803
(407) 897-6410
Grades: 1-8
| 284 students
Rank: #22.
Dommerich Elementary School
Math: 88% | Reading: 87%
Rank:
Top 1%
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601 N Thistle Ln
Maitland, FL 32751
(407) 623-1407
Grades: PK-5
| 557 students
Rank: #33.
Lake Whitney Elementary School
Math: 85% | Reading: 84%
Rank:
Top 5%
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1351 Windemere Rd
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 877-8888
Grades: PK-5
| 509 students
Rank: #44.
Windermere Elementary School
Math: 84% | Reading: 83%
Rank:
Top 5%
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11125 Park Ave
Windermere, FL 34786
(407) 876-7520
Grades: PK-5
| 633 students
Rank: #55.
Independence Elementary School
Math: 83% | Reading: 82%
Rank:
Top 5%
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6255 New Independence Pkwy
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 217-7727
Grades: K-5
| 692 students
Rank: #66.
Summerlake Elementary School
Math: 84% | Reading: 80%
Rank:
Top 5%
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15450 Porter Road
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 317-3200
Grades: K-5
| 828 students
Rank: #7 – 87.
– 8.
Keenes Crossing Elementary School
Math: 79% | Reading: 82%
Rank:
Top 5%
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5240 Keenes Pheasant Dr
Windermere, FL 34786
(407) 654-1351
Grades: PK-5
| 1,018 students
Rank: #7 – 87. – 8.
Whispering Oak Elementary School
Math: 79% | Reading: 82%
Rank:
Top 5%
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15300 Stoneybrook West Pkwy
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 656-7773
Grades: PK-5
| 1,035 students
Rank: #9 – 109. – 10.
Hope Charter
Charter School
Math: 82% | Reading: 77%
Rank:
Top 5%
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1550 E Crown Point Rd
Ocoee, FL 34761
(407) 656-4673
Grades: K-8
| 423 students
Rank: #9 – 109.
– 10.
Thornebrooke Elementary School
Math: 80% | Reading: 79%
Rank:
Top 5%
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601 Thornebrooke Dr
Ocoee, FL 34761
(407) 909-1301
Grades: PK-5
| 584 students
Rank: #1111.
Avalon Elementary School
Math: 78% | Reading: 80%
Rank:
Top 5%
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13500 Tanja King Blvd
Orlando, FL 32828
(407) 207-3825
Grades: PK-5
| 629 students
Rank: #1212.
Orlando Science Middle High Charter
Charter School
Math: 76% | Reading: 81%
Rank:
Top 10%
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2427 Lynx Ln
Orlando, FL 32804
(407) 253-7304
Grades: 6-12
| 1,219 students
Rank: #1313.
Hillcrest Elementary School
Magnet School
Math: 70-74% | Reading: 85-89%
Rank:
Top 10%
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1010 E Concord St
Orlando, FL 32803
(407) 245-1770
Grades: PK-5
| 402 students
Rank: #1414.
Laureate Park Elementary School
Math: 75% | Reading: 81%
Rank:
Top 10%
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7800 Laureate Blvd
Orlando, FL 32827
(407) 730-8730
Grades: PK-5
| 893 students
Rank: #1515.
Timber Lakes Elementary School
Math: 79% | Reading: 76%
Rank:
Top 10%
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2149 Crown Hill Blvd
Orlando, FL 32828
(407) 249-6177
Grades: K-5
| 757 students
Rank: #1616.
Northlake Park Community Elementary School
Math: 77% | Reading: 76%
Rank:
Top 10%
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9055 Northlake Pkwy
Orlando, FL 32827
(407) 852-3500
Grades: K-5
| 645 students
Rank: #1717.
Audubon Park School
Math: 74% | Reading: 77%
Rank:
Top 10%
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1500 Falcon Dr
Orlando, FL 32803
(407) 317-5829
Grades: K-8
| 1,009 students
Rank: #1818.
Princeton Elementary School
Math: 76% | Reading: 75%
Rank:
Top 10%
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311 W Princeton St
Orlando, FL 32804
(407) 245-1840
Grades: PK-5
| 422 students
Rank: #1919.
Sunrise Elementary School
Math: 73% | Reading: 75%
Rank:
Top 10%
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101 Lone Palm Rd
Orlando, FL 32828
(407) 384-1585
Grades: PK-5
| 439 students
Rank: #2020.
Stone Lakes Elementary School
Math: 76% | Reading: 72%
Rank:
Top 10%
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15200 Stoneybrook Blvd
Orlando, FL 32828
(407) 207-7793
Grades: K-5
| 667 students
Rank: #2121.
Howard Middle School
Magnet School
Math: 71% | Reading: 77%
Rank:
Top 10%
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800 E Robinson St
Orlando, FL 32801
(407) 245-1780
Grades: 6-8
| 983 students
Rank: #2222.
Arbor Ridge K-8
Magnet School
Math: 75% | Reading: 72%
Rank:
Top 10%
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2900 Logandale Dr
Orlando, FL 32817
(407) 672-3110
Grades: PK-8
| 760 students
Rank: #2323.
Baldwin Park Elementary School
Math: 74% | Reading: 72%
Rank:
Top 10%
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1750 Common Way Rd
Orlando, FL 32814
(407) 897-6400
Grades: PK-5
| 734 students
Rank: #2424.
Dr. Phillips Elementary School
Math: 73% | Reading: 72%
Rank:
Top 20%
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6909 Dr Phillips Blvd
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 354-2600
Grades: PK-5
| 709 students
Rank: #2525.
Flvs Full Time 6-8
Math: 69% | Reading: 76%
Rank:
Top 20%
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2145 Metro Center Blvd Ste 100
Orlando, FL 32835
(800) 374-1430
Grades: 6-8
| 3,532 students
Rank: #2626.
Eagle Creek Elementary School
Math: 74% | Reading: 70%
Rank:
Top 20%
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10025 Eagle Creek Sanctuary Bl
Orlando, FL 32832
(407) 930-5592
Grades: PK-5
| 978 students
Rank: #2727.
Sun Blaze Elementary School
Math: 75% | Reading: 68%
Rank:
Top 20%
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9101 Randal Park Blvd
Orlando, FL 32832
(407) 203-5110
Grades: PK-5
| 768 students
Rank: #2828.
Deerwood Elementary School
Math: 71% | Reading: 71%
Rank:
Top 20%
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1356 S Econlockhatchee Trl
Orlando, FL 32825
(407) 249-6320
Grades: PK-5
| 413 students
Rank: #29 – 3029.
– 30.
Castleview Elementary School
Math: 71% | Reading: 70%
Rank:
Top 20%
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9131 Taborfield Ave
Orlando, FL 32836
(407) 909-5418
Grades: K-5
| 688 students
Rank: #29 – 3029. – 30.
Waterford Elementary School
Math: 71% | Reading: 70%
Rank:
Top 20%
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12950 Lake Underhill Rd
Orlando, FL 32828
(407) 249-6410
Grades: PK-5
| 555 students
Rank: #3131.
Moss Park Elementary School
Math: 70% | Reading: 71%
Rank:
Top 20%
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9301 N Shore Golf Club Blvd
Orlando, FL 32832
(407) 249-4747
Grades: PK-5
| 943 students
Rank: #3232.
Bay Lake Elementary School
Math: 73% | Reading: 68%
Rank:
Top 20%
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12005 Silverlake Park Dr
Windermere, FL 34786
(407) 217-7960
Grades: PK-5
| 702 students
Rank: #3333.
Pinecrest Preparatory Charter
Charter School
Math: 65-69% | Reading: 70-74%
Rank:
Top 20%
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8503 Daetwyler Dr
Orlando, FL 32827
(407) 856-8359
Grades: K-8
| 235 students
Rank: #3434.
Orlando Science Elementary Charter
Charter School
Math: 66% | Reading: 73%
Rank:
Top 20%
Add to Compare
2611 Technology Dr
Orlando, FL 32804
(407) 253-7304
Grades: K-5
| 724 students
Rank: #3535.
Avalon Middle School
Math: 70% | Reading: 69%
Rank:
Top 20%
Add to Compare
13914 Mailer Blvd
Orlando, FL 32828
(407) 207-7839
Grades: 5-8
| 988 students
Show 100 more public schools in Orange County, FL (out of 281 total schools)
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Best States for Education 2023
New Jersey
Massachusetts
Florida
Washington
Colorado
Connecticut
North Carolina
Wisconsin
Nebraska
Best States for Education 2023
Education is an extremely important institution around the world. Education is a dominant factor in determining how developed a country is, reduces poverty, boosts the economy, and promote peace. In the United States, the quality of education and educational attainment level one receives strongly correlates with median incomes.
Whether you’re a soon-to-be college student trying to figure out your next move after high school graduation or you have children in your household, there’s one thing that both have in common: the desire to find the best schools.
A great school system is a selling point for homes on the market, and college students are willing to pay extra money to attend out-of-state schools. These examples are just two that show how important education is too many people.
While there are great schools in every state in the U.S., some states have special school districts and higher learning institutions that stand out above the rest. Some states are also more educated than others.
There isn’t just one setlist of the best schools, however. Many publications and think tanks have created their lists of the best states for education based on several factors. When selecting a state with the best schools, it’s best to figure out what’s most important for your situation and look at data surrounding that.
Educational Attainment
Educational attainment strongly correlates with median incomes and a person’s overall standard of living. Educational attainment is impacted by several factors, including socioeconomic status and students’ urban/rural location.
The ten states with the highest educational attainment are: District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Colorado, Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, Virginia, Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York. Unsurprisingly, seven of these states are also among the top ten states for school rankings, according to WalletHub. Nine are in the top 20.
States with the Best School Systems
WalletHub ranked every state’s public schools for “Quality” and “Safety” using 33 metrics. Among these were math and reading scores, median SAT and ACT scores, pupil-to-teacher ratio, high school graduation rate among low-income students, and bullying incidents. Unlike other research on the best schools, WalletHub’s analysis is more comprehensive in that it considers performance, safety, class size, funding, and instructor credentials. Based on these metrics, the states with the best school systems, in order, are: Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Virginia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Delaware, and Maryland.
Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Virginia, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maryland are all in both the states with the highest educational attainment and the states with the best school systems.
1. Massachusetts
Massachusetts has the best-ranked public schools in the United States and is the second-most educated state, just behind the District of Columbia. About 90.40% of Massachusetts adults have a high school diploma, and 42.90% have a Bachelor’s degree or higher. Almost half of the state’s public schools are ranked in the top 25% of high school rankings. Massachusetts also boasts the highest math and reading test scores and a median ACT score of 25.1.
2. Connecticut
Connecticut has the second-best public school systems in the U.S. and is the fifth-most educated state. Connecticut’s median ACT score of 25.5 is the highest in the country. It also has the highest per-pupil spending at about $18,958 per student. Connecticut is also considered to be one of the best states for teachers.
3. New Jersey
New Jersey has the third-best public schools. New Jersey ranks second for the lowest dropout rate and reading test scores. Additionally, it ranks third for the lowest pupil to teacher ratio and math test scores. New Jersey spends about $21,866 per student and is the second-best state for teachers. Teachers get paid an average of $69,917 per year in New Jersey. New Jersey has the fifth-highest educational attainment in the country.
4. Virginia
Ranked fourth for its school systems is in Virginia. Virginia is the seventh-most educated U.S. state, with 38.2% of adults having a Bachelor’s degree or higher. Virginia has one of the lowest bullying incidence rates in the U.S. and ranks fourth for math test scores.
5. Vermont
Vermont ranks fifth for the best public schools and has the eighth-most educated population in the U.S. Vermont has the lowest pupil-to-teacher ratio of 10.5:1, allowing teachers to give extra attention to each student.
Vermont is tied with Massachusetts and Oklahoma for the lowest percentage of threatened/injured high school students.
6. New Hampshire
Vermont’s neighbor New Hampshire has the sixth-best public schools and has the ninth-highest education attainment. About 36.50% of New Hampshire adults have at least a Bachelor’s degree or higher. New Hampshire schools have the second-highest median ACT score of 25.1. New Hampshire’s pupil-to-teacher ratio is 12:1, the fifth-lowest in the country.
7. Minnesota
In seventh place is Minnesota, which has the highest median SAT score in the country of 1298. Minnesota ranks sixth overall for quality and has the second-highest math test scores in the country. Despite concerns over Minnesota’s declining performance for math and reading scores, graduation rates for all student groups have increased in public schools. Minnesota has the second-highest high school diploma attainment rate in the U.S. of 93%.
8. Wisconsin
Wisconsin has the eighth-best public schools.
91.90% of Wisconsin adults have at least a high school diploma. Wisconsin ties with Minnesota for the highest median SAT score of 1298. Additionally, Wisconsin’s pupil-to-teacher ratio is 15:1, lower than the U.S. average of 16:1.
9. Delaware
Delaware schools rank 15th overall for quality and second for safety. Delaware has the second-lowest bullying incident rate and has an above-average ACT score of 24.1. Delaware does fall behind in pupil-to-teacher ratio, which is 22:1, above the national average.
10. Maryland
Maryland tops the top ten list of states with the best public schools. Maryland also has the fourth-highest education attainment in the U.S., with 39.60% of adults have a Bachelor’s degree or higher. Maryland schools have a pupil-to-teacher ratio of 15:1. The average ACT score is 22.3, and the average SAT score is 1058.
Best States for Education 2023
Best States for Education 2023
- States with the Best & Worst School Systems
- Educational Attainment in the United States
Sources
Ron DeSantis: The Story of the Top Trumpist Against Trump
Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis / Wade Vandervort / AFP
When 48 Hispanic migrants who illegally crossed the U.S. border ended up in Texas in September 2022, they decided that all the misadventures behind. Near the welfare center, a woman named Perla approached them and offered to participate in the state refugee assistance program: a free flight to Massachusetts, cash assistance for the first eight months, free housing … Later it turned out that the woman’s name was not Perla at all. She turned out to be a former employee of the special services and had nothing to do with state aid programs. The pamphlets she handed out titled “Massachusetts Welcomes You” featured a flag that was not a state flag. But fifty migrants did not suspect this. Perla fed them at McDonald’s, put them up for the night in a hotel, and put them on a plane the next day.
The flight from the south of America to the north took a long time. Tired of the road, the migrants were put into minibuses and taken to a social assistance center.
The poor fellows were told to go to the building and knock on the door. The buses left immediately. The woman who answered the knock had no idea about any program to help migrants. She didn’t even speak Spanish. One of the Hispanics turned on Google maps and found that they had indeed been brought to Massachusetts. But they landed on an island a few kilometers from land, not connected to the continent by any bridge, so they could not escape.
But this was not some seedy American island. The migrants ended up at Martha’s Vineyard, one of the most expensive resorts in the United States, where show business stars, politicians and former presidents rest. Their appearance in this luxurious place came as a complete surprise to the local authorities. There was a commotion, with local residents and businessmen chipping in for food and clothing and puzzling over where to put them. In the end, they were assigned to the barracks in the local military unit.
It quickly became clear who arranged all this.
Yes, he did not think to hide. The culprit was Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who paid for the entire operation to move migrants with money from the state budget. He claimed that he wanted to draw attention to the problem: Florida is overwhelmed by the flow of illegal migrants. Meanwhile, the northern states, to which the wave of refugees almost does not reach, in his opinion, are actively lobbying the idea of providing asylum to all illegal immigrants.
Why Trumpism is needed without Trump
DeSantis is not alone in his endeavor. His colleague, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, has already sent about 11,000 illegal immigrants north. And 8,000 of them he sent to Washington, DC. To cope with the situation, the mayor of the US capital was forced to declare a state of emergency in September 2022. Against this background, the 48 Latin Americans sent by DeSantis to Martha’s Vineyard are just a drop in the ocean. But it was his demarche that pissed off Donald Trump. He accused DeSantis of stealing.
Allegedly, the idea to send migrants to those states that are so worried about the rights of illegal immigrants belongs to Trump. And DeSantis plagiarized it.
Trump is understandable. On November 15, he announced that he intended to participate in the next presidential election, and he clearly prepared for this statement in advance. And the mainstream media by that time had already begun to call DeSantis “Trump 2.0” and even an improved version of Trump – a politician who borrowed the best tricks from the scandalous ex-president, but at the same time spared his shortcomings. And if anyone can challenge Trump in an election, it’s DeSantis. Once upon a time, Trump contributed to his political take-off. But it turned out that instead of a comrade-in-arms, he raised an opponent for himself.
DeSantis is considered one of the brightest representatives of “Trumpism without Trump”. This phenomenon has become a popular topic of discussion in America. Different media and political scientists put their own nuances into this concept, but in general terms, everyone agrees.
Bloomberg writes about the negative attitude towards established institutions and elites against the backdrop of an identity politics of “us against everyone.” The New York Times is about pomp and stance against everyone. The New Yorker compares Trumpism to McCarthyism: innuendo, fear-mongering, outright lies. And The Milwaukee Independent generally compiled a list of 21 items, including the postulate of the superiority of whites and especially wealthy whites over the rest, attacks on the media institution, an attempt to propagandize in schools, a tendency to flirt with foreign autocrats.
As far back as 2016, Politico wrote before the election that Trump’s rhetoric hit exactly the aspirations of white males with low socioeconomic status, no university education, and conservative ideologies—in other words, the traditional Republican base. This allowed him to become the candidate of the Republican Party, despite the resistance of many party functionaries. Until now, he is very popular with the electorate.
A survey conducted in late August by USA Today and Ipsos found that 59% of Republicans support Trump’s presidential candidacy in 2024.
Rebellious conservatism resonates with voters, but even to voters who share such views, problems are obvious: Trump is tragicomically incompetent, loves corrupt schemes and is fond of vaudeville buffoonery, writes Bloomberg. According to the agency, he came to power without a well-developed political platform, simply playing on the fears and worst instincts of the voters. According to The New Yorker, Trump is a competent marketer, but he lacks neither the ability to create political concepts, nor the talent of an organizer. In addition to the outrageous behavior of the Republicans, the reluctance of Trump to hand over power to Biden and his role in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, PBS explains.
Voters like Trump’s politics more than his personality. Nearly half of Republicans don’t want Trump to become president in 2024, according to a July poll by The New York Times and Siena College.
Nearly two-thirds of Republicans under 35 or with a college degree are. 16% of them will vote for Biden, another candidate, or not go to the polls if Trump is involved (in 2020, this was 9% among Republicans, according to AP VoteCast). One in five of those polled believe that Trump is a threat to democracy.
Trump’s once-closest associates are gradually distancing themselves from the figure of the ex-president. Former Vice President Mike Pence said on ABC that Trump was one of the reasons for the January 6 riots over the Capitol because he did not call on the rioters to disperse. One of his last statements: on November 28, he criticized Trump for lunch with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Former US ambassador to the United Nations from the Trump administration, Nikki Haley, said last year that she would not run for president if the ex-president entered the race. Now she says she is thinking about the presidential election “seriously” and will announce a decision “soon.
” So did Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina.
Republican politicians are trying to adopt the successful image of Trump, but at the same time avoid his negative features. For example, Cary Lake, who ran for governor of Arizona and lost in November to Democrat Kathy Hobbs, nothing at all – 50.4% versus 49.6%. Lake until last year was the host of Phoenix KSAZ-TV. Now she repeats Trump’s rhetoric in general terms, but unlike the ex-president, she follows the words and rarely allows something that her electorate may not like to escape.
Another wannabe is Glenn Youngkin, who won the Virginia gubernatorial election last year. He shares Trump’s values and has already managed to ban the teaching of critical racial theory in schools, limit the rights of transgender students and try to ban abortion. But he doesn’t share Trump’s style. On the contrary, he poses as a respectable suburbanite in a fleece vest, writes The New York Times.
But the favorite among Trump’s successors is DeSantis, the media agree.
“He is a vessel for Trumpism, detached from the absurdist performance of Trump himself,” praises Bloomberg. “He’s much less erratic and unbalanced.” In October, ABC and Ipsos asked Republicans who they would support in the presidential election (one could name several candidates). Trump got 64% and DeSantis got 72%.
DeSantis, unlike Trump, operates within the normal range, writes The Boston Globe. Like Trump, he is waging a culture war, trolling opponents, getting personal in discussions, and playing on the instincts of the crowd. But he looks smarter, more insightful, more competent. In addition, he is not as ruthless and vindictive and is ready to operate within the framework of a two-party system.
DeSantis’ supporters are optimistic about the latest election, in which Trump-backed candidates in the November midterms generally failed. And DeSantis at the same time was re-elected to the post of governor of Florida with an impressive margin over his Democratic rival – he scored almost 60%.
Despite DeSantis’ tough stance on migrants and how he dealt with fifty Hispanic illegal immigrants, 52% of Florida’s Hispanics voted for him.
Baseball team captain and military lawyer
DeSantis is best known for his immigration crackdown, but ironically, his family history in the US begins when his migrant great-great-grandmother was nearly banned from entering the country, writes the expert. on the genealogy of Megan Smolenyak in her blog on Medium. Emigration from Italy declined sharply during World War I, with more than 150,000 going to America in 1914 and less than 18,000 in 1917. People were afraid of German submarines and other dangers. Nevertheless, Luigia Storti, pregnant and with two teenage daughters, ventured on the journey. Her husband since 1904 was in the USA: it was a chain migration so hated by Desantis now, when one person moves, and all relatives move after him.
While Luigia Storti was crossing the Atlantic, the US Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917, under which Storti was not allowed to enter America.
Fortunately for DeSantis, before the law had time to come into force, his great-great-grandmother managed to pass the filter on Ellis Island and cross the border.
Thanks to this 14 September 1978 in Florida, in the family of a nurse and installer of equipment for television ratings Nielsen, and Desantis was born. Together with his sister, he grew up on a ranch of 14 acres and was friends with children from different backgrounds. This gives him a reason to talk about his working roots and find a common language with people from all strata of society.
Excellent study allowed him to enter Yale. But in order to cover the cost of education, I had to constantly earn extra money – either as an electrician, or as a physical education teacher in a summer camp, or as a laborer. According to the latest filing, he still owed $20,000 in student loans at the end of last year. At least 20 more hours a week had to be spent in training, because he was the captain of the university baseball team.
High grades paved the way for him to Harvard Law School. After receiving her diploma in 2005, Disantis went to serve as a military lawyer. He worked with detainees at Guantanamo, then volunteered and went to Iraq as legal counsel for the elite US SEAL Team One.
You can’t earn much in the army. But it has its perks. For example, access to concessional lending programs. In 2009, DeSantis bought a house for $307,500 near his native Jacksonville, writes Forbes. To do this, he took out a loan even more than the property was worth – $ 314,000. A year later, he was demobilized and married his current wife, Casey, a local TV presenter. They have two daughters and a son. His family is like a picture: a beautiful wife and cute children, just now shoot in an advertisement, notes The New Yorker.
In 2011, DeSantis worked for the law firm Holland & Knight in Florida and as a US Attorney, earning $128,000. He also published a book on politics, Dreams of Our Founding Fathers: Fundamentals of the Obama Era, whose title echoes Obama’s memoir Dreams my father” (1995).
For his first literary work, DeSantis received only about $20,000.
DeSantis showed little interest in politics at school, in universities, and in the army, his friends told the Tampa Bay Times. Politics began to attract him just in the Obama era, when he worked as a lawyer. Then he decided to build a career in politics. In 2012, he entered the race for a seat in Florida’s sixth congressional district – and won it. Trump came out in support at the time, tweeting: “Ron DeSantis, Iraq Veteran, Navy Hero, Bronze Star, [graduated from] Yale, Harvard Law School, running for Congress in Florida. Very impressive”. Thank you for this tweet to DeSantis’ Yale dorm roommate Nick Sinatra. He went into politics after graduation and, through a friend, convinced Trump to publish words of support for DeSantis.
One of the freshly minted congressman’s first notable speeches came during a discussion about whether to allocate billions of dollars in aid to New York and New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy.
DeSantis argued that this can be done only in one case: if other state programs are cut by the same amount. The idea of saving the budget brought him closer to a number of congressmen. Together, in 2015, they founded the so-called Freedom Caucus, a closed community of Republican parliamentarians, some of whom are members of it secretly. Unlike the parliamentary faction, the caucus is more flexible, more united and develops a common policy faster. Its main goal is to promote the ideas of “small government” (reduction of the state apparatus), a balanced budget and the abolition of obligatory health insurance Obamacare. Their first success was the departure of House Speaker John Boehner from his post: members of the caucus threatened him with a vote of no confidence. His successor Paul Ryan stated that his election was contingent on caucus support.
Interestingly, early in his presidency, Trump accused the caucus of torpedoing his projects. But they later reconciled, and former caucus chairman Mark Meadows was named White House chief of staff in 2020.
DeSantis followed Trump’s policies. He supported moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem (one of Trump’s campaign promises) and questioned Russian interference in the US presidential campaign. He even introduced an amendment to the spending bill that would cut funding for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The amendment did not pass, but attracted the attention of Fox News. Desantis became a regular on the channel’s air. He didn’t miss a chance to stab the FBI and Mueller, as well as praise Trump and conservative values.
Desantis publicly renounced the MP’s pension and health insurance and urged his colleagues to do the same. Several parliamentarians followed suit. True, he did not refuse a salary. In the nearly six years that DeSantis worked on Capital Hill and earned $174,000 a year, he set aside some of the money for a $242,000 house in Palm Coast, Florida in 2016, writes Forbes. Two years later, he sold it for $275,000, paying off his mortgage and leaving with a small profit.
“Don’t say gay”
In 2018, DeSantis won the heated race for governor of Florida by only half a percentage point. During the campaign, DeSantis also emphasized the idea of ”small government”, saving public funds and criticizing Obama, who allegedly tries to interfere in “virtually every issue, from the waist of children to the temperature of the Earth” (quoted by The Tampa Bay Times). But it was Trumpism and anti-migrant rhetoric that brought him victory. In the commercials, DeSantis built a wall of blocks with his children (an obvious reference to the wall on the border with Mexico) and taught them to read with a “Make America Great Again” poster. Trump again spoke out in his support. “Congressman Ron DeSantis is a brilliant young leader, Yale, Harvard law school, he could make a great governor of Florida. He loves our country and is a real fighter!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Now DeSantis stands out from other governors with his participation in the American “culture wars”, writes The Conversation.
He positions himself as the main bulwark of stability and the fight against the left-liberal “identity politics”. Its apologists, he accuses, put race, gender and sexual orientation above national unity. “Florida is where the ultra-left will perish,” he said in speeches. Among his latest high-profile steps is the law signed in March of this year, nicknamed in the media “don’t say gay”. It prohibits Florida elementary school teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in class. When the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in June, DeSantis said the prayers of millions had been answered and banned abortions after the 15th week.
In economics, he is more of a traditional conservative who favors tax cuts, government spending cuts, and corporate deregulation. But when Disney dared to openly oppose the governor, including under the “don’t say gay” law, the legislature, at the instigation of DeSantis, stripped corporation lands of their right to self-government.
It’s about Disneyland and its environs. However, many of these decisions have not yet entered into force. Part of the provisions of the law “don’t say” gay “was blocked by the court, and the rights to self-government of Disney land will be deprived no earlier than in a year. So far, there are disputes over whose jurisdiction they should go.
DeSantis is like Trump in his constant attacks on the media. Frames where he scolds journalists are even included in his official commercials. “That’s another thing he learned from Trump,” Sarah Longwell, founder of Republican Voters Against Trump, was quoted by the BBC as saying. “If you cause outrage in the media, they talk a lot about you, and this increases your visibility and helps to gain new supporters.”
Against covid and hurricane
But the coronavirus epidemic made Desantis famous all over America. When it began, in Florida, as in other states, self-isolation and mandatory wearing of masks were introduced.
But soon DeSantis began to allow one indulgence after another. Wearing masks is optional. Instead of general self-isolation, a two-week quarantine for arrivals from states covered by the epidemic. “By ordering people to hide at home, you are dooming hundreds of thousands of Florida residents to lose their jobs,” DeSantis explained. Photos of Florida beaches crammed with vacationers have circled the country. DeSantis called his state “an oasis of freedom,” and accused Biden of being a supporter of the “biomedical security state.”
Spears are still broken in America over whether DeSantis acted wisely or killed many people. There is no single answer. More than 82,000 people have died from coronavirus in Florida, and on a per capita basis, it ranks 12th in the country in terms of deaths out of fifty states, writes The New York Times.
The popularity of DeSantis grew thanks to another disaster – Hurricane Ian. It hit the state this September, when the next gubernatorial election was literally on the nose (they took place on November 8).
DeSantis looked great on screen, personally directing the aftermath of the disaster. He backed up his words with deeds. For example, by concentrating resources, he was able to repair the bridge to Pine Island in three days, and the bridge to Sanibel Island in three weeks instead of the three months promised by specialists. He was praised by Biden himself during a tour of the states affected by the hurricane. In doing so, the president hit the supporters of DeSantis’ rival in the gubernatorial election, Democrat Charlie Crist, hard. DeSantis was re-elected with an impressive margin of 59.4% versus 40%.
It must be said that the victory in the elections was important for DeSantis on a personal level. As head of state for the first time, he moved into the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee, Florida. And he sold his only house for $460,000, about $150,000 more than he once paid for it. So in case of defeat, he would have to urgently look for housing.
Forbes writes that DeSantis was bad at timing his home sales, both as a congressman and as governor.
If he had waited and made a deal when real estate prices in Florida began to rise due to the coronavirus epidemic, he would have been half a million richer. He only has $320,000 in savings, which is less than the average American his age (and remember, he still owes $20,000 on student loans). As governor, DeSantis doesn’t make much money—$140,000 a year. True, in February he made a deal with HarperCollins to write a book. The amount was not disclosed, but according to Politico, DeSantis turned down a $2 million offer from a rival publisher for the sake of this deal.
Fight
“He’s a Trump with brains,” DeSantis’ closest associates praised in an interview with The Atlantic. Trump allegedly knows about this, and it infuriates him. Relations between the governor of Florida and the ex-president have become icy, writes The Conversation. Shortly before DeSantis’ re-election, Trump publicly referred to him as “De-Sanktimonius” (that can be translated as “De-Hunt”). When DeSantis was successfully re-elected as governor, Trump told Fox News that they had no differences and called DeSantis a “good guy.
” But he immediately added that it would be a mistake for DeSantis to run for president: “He risks getting hurt badly.” In addition, Thurmp recalled that in 2020 he received 1.1 million more votes in the Florida presidential election than DeSantis in the gubernatorial elections: 5.7 million against 4.6 million.
The intrigue is fueled by the fact that DeSantis still has unspent funds after the gubernatorial election: about $60 million, writes The Palm Beach Post. He could quickly raise up to $200 million for the presidential campaign if he decides to run for the White House, writes The Conversation.
Desantis about Russia
Desantis met the special operation in Ukraine with silence. He gave his first comment only five days after it began. He spoke disparagingly about the Russian president and Russia as a whole. But DeSantis’ main target was Biden. The Russian president, according to DeSantis, acted on the basis of weakness shown by Biden, and under Trump this would not have happened: “When Obama was president, Putin took Crimea.
When Trump was president, [the Russians] didn’t take anything. And now President Biden, and [Russians] in Ukraine.”
The only question is whether he survives the confrontation with Trump. He will simply smear DeSantis in public, The Atlantic suspects. Trump is energetic and quickly navigates the situation. DeSantis is a little moody and doesn’t improvise very well. “Trump will gut him with a blunt deer horn and kill him like a baby seal,” the magazine’s experts colorfully describe. A vivid illustration of the clumsiness of DeSantis is an episode in the debate before the last gubernatorial election. DeSantis’ rival Charlie Chris asked if he would serve the full term if he won. In other words, whether DeSantis will not participate in the presidential race, leaving the governor’s worries for this. DeSantis was taken aback. Tell me yes or no, Chris insisted. DeSantis couldn’t get a word out of himself. “The question is on point, he won’t answer it for you,” Chris said to fill the silence.
Desantis was saved by the moderator. He recalled that candidates are not allowed to ask each other direct questions. As he spoke, DeSantis collected his thoughts and gave out some pre-prepared phrase, diverting the conversation to the side. But if he comes face to face with such a master of verbal debate as Trump, the moderator may simply not have time to come to his aid.
On the other hand, even media sympathetic to Trump actively criticize the former president. The New York Post derided Trump as Humpty Dumpty, The Wall Street Journal declared him “the biggest loser of the Republican Party.” Cautious while Fox News. But on Nov. 15, as Trump was about to announce his presidential race, Fox News host Bret Bayer called out Mike Pence, the former vice president Trump hates for recognizing the 2020 election results. But host Sean Hannity called in experts who praised Trump: “You’ve never seen him in such good shape.”
What to do about Trump is one of the toughest questions for Fox News and other conservative media owner Rupert Murdoch to decide, says the Financial Times.
Murdoch is an unsurpassed master of evaluating politicians and determining their expiration dates. At the same time, he does not belong to any camp and easily changes sides. He is said to have been unimpressed by Trump’s political benefit in 2016, but quickly realized that his style captivated Republican voters. Murdoch made good use of Trump’s popularity: his Fox News gathered record audiences and helped make the eccentric politician president, according to the FT. But Murdoch’s stance seems to have changed since then. In addition, for Fox News, Trump brought not only ratings, but also problems: for example, two multi-billion dollar libel suits. FT sources assure that they had to be settled with the help of large payments. Murdoch is also alarmed by the fact that Trump has split the ranks of the Republicans. Trust in Fox News among right-wing voters has dropped from 73% to 56% since 2020, according to a Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism survey. And Murdoch will have to make a choice between the Trump audience and the rest.
The end of present-day America is only 1 year away
The United States faces worse troubles than the second Civil War
shot themselves, it was a shock. Prosperous, prosperous America, which seemed to have won the Cold War of the 20th century – and suddenly this?
However, over the next 23 years, such “executions” acquired the character of mass psychosis in America. In 2007, “exploded” in the Virginia Polytechnic – 27 killed. In 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Connecticut, 27 were killed, including young children. In 2016 there was a massacre in Orlando – 49killed. In 2017, there was a shooting in Sutherland Springs – 25 people were killed. In 2018 – Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida – 17 killed.
Then these tragic cases began to grow like a snowball.
Only from the beginning of 2022 to the present day, 34 cases of mass murder have already occurred in the United States, and only in the first 4 days of July, 3 mass executions of citizens were recorded.
Thus, on July 1 in Newark (New Jersey) 9 people were injured, including a child, on July 2 in Hultom City (Texas) two were shot and four were injured, including three policemen. On the very Independence Day of the United States, July 4, in Highland Park in the suburbs of Chicago, at the parade on the occasion of the holiday, 7 people died as a result of mass shooting, and 24 were injured of varying severity.
In most cases, the instigators of these mass murders commit suicide, and psychologists find it difficult to identify the motives of the crime among the survivors.
“What happened to the shining city on the hill – and what will happen to it next?” – Americans themselves are increasingly asking themselves, and, in particular, Oxford University professor Adam Smith, stating that today the United States is divided among themselves by culture wars and disputes over weapons, abortion and elections in a way that has never been since the Civil War
And this division manifests itself, among other things, in mass executions.
Citizens, in simple terms, are blown away by the fact that most of them feel like strangers in their own country, considering the national government to be corrupt through and through and not trusting it.
The latest polls of Americans show that 85% of them are sure that the United States has recently been moving in the wrong direction.
Moreover, every fourth citizen of America considers it possible to take up arms against the “falsified” government. In this opinion, both Republicans (a third of the respondents) and Democrats (one in five) show amazing solidarity, while calling their political opponents “hooligans who impose their opinion” and wanting the “democratic” and “republican” states to be divided into 2 new countries.
Will such sentiments soon spill over into the “Second Civil” war, or will the Americans, driven to white heat, continue to “set off steam” by shooting each other in the streets?
– A terrible natural fire does not flare up simultaneously in all corners of the forest, first smoke appears somewhere from under a stump, then the moss lights up, and if these foci are not extinguished, then in dry weather, and even in the presence of wind, the all-devouring flame devastates huge territory.
Approximately the same thing we are seeing now in the USA, – believes member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, adviser to the Russian Federation of the 1st class, expert of the Anti-NATO commission of the State Duma, Doctor of Historical Sciences Vyacheslav Tetekin. “The increasing, but so far sporadic shooting of civilians in all corners of America suggests that the embers have already begun to smolder. The US economy has already been “dried up” to the limit, and the strengthening wind of popular indignation will not matter, so I won’t be surprised if cases of mass executions on the streets of America become more frequent.
“SP”: Does this really mean that America is already on the verge of a “Second Civil War”?
– Traditions of resistance to the government are quite strong in the USA. On the basis of the independence of the individual from the state, they, in fact, were created, so there is nothing surprising in the fact that every fourth American is considering the option of going up against the authorities with weapons in their hands, especially since there are more civilians in their hands than the entire American army .
It is in Russia that weapons must be registered, and there you only know to pay money, and you can at least buy a machine gun for yourself.
But much more interesting is why so many Americans are saying this, and how real is this scenario Americans how real is this scenario?
On the one hand, what the Joe Biden administration is doing, the Americans are already completely fed up with. When fuel prices jump below $5 per gallon, this hits household budgets significantly, especially since all economic activity in the States is built on trucking, and not on rail transport, as we have in Russia. Moreover, prices are rising not due to natural disasters and military actions to protect the national interests of the United States, but due to the fact that the White House actively supports neo-Nazis in Ukraine, the existence of which, and even more so – about the “clown” Zelensky, most Americans don’t even suspect.
And the longer the US government supports the Kiev regime, the stronger the indignation of ordinary Americans will grow, for whom the state of their own wallet is much more critical than the “ideals of democracy” somewhere on the other side of the world.
However, Biden and Co. are determined to drag out the conflict in Ukraine for as long as possible, which means that the degree of discontent among Americans will rise sharply. So I won’t be surprised if, in a month, not every fourth, but every third elector in the United States will declare their desire to go against their government with a gun at the ready. The situation is very tense.
“SP”: – So, then, the imminent expectation of the “Second Civil” is still not empty talk?
– They have a general election in November, and it is already clear that these same 25% of electors, who are determined to rebel with weapons in their hands, will not vote for Biden and the Democrats in any way. However, I do not think that replacing Biden with another political figure will somehow dampen this militant mood.
The President of the United States, like the President of Ukraine, is just a doll that better or worse expresses the assessments and moods of the global “shadow government” that rules Washington and Kiev.
So replacing, relatively speaking, Zelensky with Arestovich or Biden with another democrat will not solve anything. The foreign policy of the country itself must change.
“SP”: Is it like Donald Trump is a supporter of America’s isolation from the outside world? If he is in power?
— Trump, of course, has shown that he wants to make America prosperous without interfering in the affairs of other countries. If the American administration changes in this way, if people interested in the well-being of the United States, and not world oligarchs, are at the helm in the White House, then the mood of the Americans may become more peaceful.
“SP”: – And if not – an armed riot?
– I think that things will not come to a full-fledged Civil War, the regulatory mechanisms are too complicated there. But if the current “political shop” exists in the United States for at least another six months, or, God forbid, a year, then anything will be possible there.