Neil W. McCabe, OAN National Correspondent
UPDATED 6:38 AM PT – Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Florida Republican Gov. Ronald D. DeSantis rallied Friday in a packed-out Pittsburgh ballroom for the Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial nominee looking to succeed Democratic Gov. Thomas W. Wolf less than 90 days from Nov. 8 election day.
“Our message to Pennsylvania is clear, and we have a stark choice,” said state Sen. Douglas V. Mastriano (R.-33), facing the Democratic nominee Attorney General Joshua D. Shapiro.
“We had the continuation of eight years of failed policies, vis-a-vis Tom Wolf in the form of Josh Shapiro, who’s for six years has been our attorney general, and as our senior law enforcement official, the state crime has gone up 37 percent, overdose deaths, we’re number eight in the nation, 12th in homicides, fourth specifically in fentanyl deaths,” the retired Army colonel said.
Mastriano said in addition to his failure at the commonwealth’s attorney general, Shapiro has personal failings that should preclude him from holding public office. “He’s a failure. He’s ambitious. He’s a vain glorious man looking for his own glory and he’s done nothing with the job he had at hand.”
The rally with DeSantis was part of the governor’s “Unite and Win” tour, sponsored by Turning Point USA, the political wing of the conservative youth organization led by its founder Charlie Kirk.
“We are thrilled that Gov. Ron DeSantis from Florida came up to campaign with us. Pennsylvania is the Keystone State,” the state senator said.
When Mastriano took the stage, accompanied by his wife Rebecca, he wasted no time telling the faithful what to expect from his administration.
“On day one, all executive orders and mandates or restrictions that destroy businesses and infringe upon your freedoms will be over,” he said.
“I’ll be rolling back over one-third of the regulations in the first 100 days of my administration,” he said. “I will hold state officials accountable for enforcing law and prosecuting crime–that’s right. I will have the backs of our beautiful law enforcement.”
The state senator, whose district includes the home and library of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, said he had a special plan for the planeloads of illegal aliens President Joseph R. Biden Jr. sends into the Keystone State.
“Pennsylvania will not be host to illegal immigrants anymore—and when those ghost flights show up in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Police will greet them and escort them to Joe Biden’s house in Delaware,” he said.
When DeSantis took the stage, the crowd erupted, and the governor took it from there, taking on the leftists trying to rework America’s culture.
“This woke ideology is a really destructive mind virus. And what it’s done is it is infecting different institutions in our society, the medical establishment,” he said. “That’s why they’re doing these sex changes on the minors, or they want to do it.”
It is also going on in the schools, he said.
“You see it in education. You see it in these different things. It’s a very oppressive ideology. It’s totally divorced from reality,” DeSantis said.
“We can’t just stand idly by while woke ideology ravages every institution in our society. We must fight the woke in our schools. We must fight the woke in our businesses. We must fight the woke in government agencies,” he said. “We can never ever surrender to woke ideology—and I’ll tell you this, the state of Florida is where woke goes to die.”
After he wound up the crowd, DeSantis then sent the whipped-up activists out with his marching orders.
“So, put on the full armor of God, take a stand against the left schemes. Stand your ground. Stand firm. Don’t back down. We can do this,” he said.
“I’m going to be working to keep the state of Florida free and you guys have an opportunity to make Pennsylvania free. Let’s get it done.”
