The media are working hard to make Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis the national coronavirus villain. In doing so, they just might make him the 2024 GOP nominee.

DeSantis has been the target of criticism since the early days of the pandemic for reopening Florida earlier than the experts would have liked. They predicted his reluctance to lock down the state and implement coronavirus restrictions would result in widespread deaths and overwhelmed hospitals. DeSantis proved them wrong: Florida’s death rate is half of New York’s and far below most other states’, including Mississippi’s, South Dakota’s, Michigan’s, Illinois’s, and so on.