Like a football team on the road, conservative Republicans who come to Washington as elected officials are in enemy territory, according to Rep. Ron DeSantis.
Not 24 hours after the Senate’s legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare crashed and burned, DeSantis outlined why the deck is naturally stacked against conservatives who come to Washington with the intentions of promoting limited government.
“When you’re up here, yeah we have Republican majorities, a Republican president, but in Washington it’s like every day is a road game in the SEC,” the Florida Republican said in an interview with the Washington Examiner on Tuesday. “You have the media against you, you have the city of Washington and the people that live here against you — part of the permanent political class — and you obviously have the Democrats against you.”
“So it’s just more difficult for Republicans than the Democrats,” he explained.
DeSantis pointed to President Trump’s predecessor to illustrate how the deck is naturally stacked in favor of Democrats. “When Obama came in,” the congressman reflected, “he had the media at his back, he had the city and the permanent political class at his back, the Democrats…”
“You had kind of a weakened Republican minority who was trying to throw sand in the gears, but that was it,” DeSantis remarked.
Now in his third term, DeSantis, a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, believes elected Republicans who come to Washington are confronted with two clear options. “Every single person when they come into the House,” he maintained, “you have to make a decision on Day One, is this place a swamp you want to drain or is it a hot tub where you just kind of get in and have a good time and become part of the party?”
“I viewed it as a swamp that needs to be drained, and when you do that, that limits, I think, some of your ability to do certain things in the House versus other things in the House,” DeSantis argued.
The GOP’s healthcare legislation, from DeSantis’ vantage point, had “K Street’s fingerprints on it.”
“If you’re really doing significant reform, if you’re really taking power out of Washington, you will absolutely be alienating some of the lobbying interests up here. That’s just the reality of the situation,” he said.
DeSantis believes politicians should aim to be “in Washington,” but not “of Washington.”
“If you decide, look I’m going to play the game, the problem is that by the time you get in a position to really reform things you’ve really become part of Washington,” he told the Washington Examiner.
The evidence bears that conclusion out, according to DeSantis. “I think guys who have really been strong, who have been good on reform, they don’t get the same opportunities to be committee chairmen or be in certain situations,” he said.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
