No, DeSantis, you’re not going to repeal the First Step Act
Tom Joyce
Video Embed
Looking to differentiate himself from former President Donald Trump, Florida governor and fellow Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis recently made a campaign promise he has no shot of keeping. DeSantis said that, if elected president, he would repeal the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill signed into law by Trump in 2018.
DeSantis told political commentator Ben Shapiro that the law has resulted in criminals being freed and that criminals should serve the prison sentences they receive. Regardless of how one feels about this mixed-bag criminal justice reform bill, the promise to repeal the bill is a bizarre and dishonest claim from DeSantis.
AS NONCITIZENS CAST BALLOTS, ‘MOTOR VOTER’ LAW NEEDS REFORM
The First Step Act had overwhelming bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress. It passed 87-12 through the Mitch McConnell-controlled Senate and 358-36 in the Paul Ryan-controlled House of Representatives.
Given that most bills require 60 votes to pass in the Senate, where would the votes to repeal this law come from? Repealing the First Step Act would not only need the votes of every Republican senator, even though most of them voted for the law, but it would also require the support of several Democrats — and Democrats are not exactly in a law-and-order party.
Since Democrats are unlikely to support repealing the law, DeSantis is, unfortunately, copying the party’s tactics with this proposal. The Republican Party needs to be the party of adults, not one that makes pie-in-the-sky promises it cannot keep, like progressive Democrats.
In a way, making unworkable promises is similar to 2020 Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders running on “Medicare for all” and the Green New Deal, two expensive spending programs that face bipartisan opposition. If either of them became president, they had no shot at implementing either plan, just as neither proposal will become law this year or next.
If DeSantis wants to run as a law-and-order candidate, that is fine. However, he should be honest with voters about what he could achieve regarding crime as president. If a candidate runs on an unrealistic platform, voters should question his ability to make positive changes in the country.
Plus, DeSantis is running in a primary against Trump. If DeSantis wants to differentiate himself, he should do so with honesty. The former president constantly lies about the 2020 presidential election outcome, hence why some Republicans want to move on from him. If DeSantis runs as a principled conservative who tells the truth, he may attract more people than he could with an unrealistic, unworkable agenda.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a political reporter for the New Boston Post in Massachusetts.