Ron DeSantis Threatens TV Stations That Air Political Ads He Doesn’t Like

The DeSantis administration in Florida has sent an angry letter to TV stations that are airing an ad to encourage people to vote for Amendment 4 (which would codify abortion rights into the state Constitution.) The letter from the Florida Department of Health claims that the ad in favor of the Amendment is “false” and “dangerous,” but that’s completely untrue. The reality is that DeSantis doesn’t want to lose his signature piece of legislation so he’s acting like a mini dictator to save it. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains what’s happening.

Subscribe to stay connected to our stories

Support us by becoming a member on YouTube

Or Support us on Patreon

Buy Ring of Fire merch

Find us on social media!

*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has managed to stay out of the news, you know, for the most part, ever since dropping outta the presidential race where he had to slink back to the state of Florida and lick his wounds for a while. But don't worry, 'cause he is right back to being the little mini Mussolini that US Floridians have come to absolutely despise. This past week, Ron DeSantis had his administration send a threatening letter from the Florida Department of Health to a TV station, a local TV station that was running an ad in support of Amendment four here in the state of Florida. Now, if you're not familiar with it, abortion is on the ballot in Florida this year. Amendment four would codify the right to an abortion into the state constitution as long as the, the fetus had not reached the point of viability. Viability is a fluid term, but typically 24 to 28 weeks, depending on what ultrasounds and tests show is when viability is real.

So, at that point, no abortions, but right now, Florida thanks to DeSantis has a six week abortion ban in place, which of course is prior to when most women even know that they're pregnant. But DeSantis is so mad that this TV station is running an ad that somebody else paid for. Okay? It's not like the news organization came out and did an op-Ed saying, Hey, we support Amendment four. An outside group made an ad paid money to the station to run the ad because it's about an election issue, and the DeSantis administration has now sent them a letter threatening legal action if they do not stop running this ad. Here's the way it works. The ad features a woman, uh, named Caroline who needed to have an abortion and cancer treatments after a brain tumor diagnosis in 2022. Uh, such a difficult situation would've been complicated by Florida's six week abortion ban.

Today in the ad, the woman says, quote, the doctors knew that if I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby. I would lose my life, and my daughter would lose her mom. Florida has now banned abortion, even in cases like mine. Amendment four is gonna protect women like me. There is nothing in that that is not factual. Nevertheless, the Florida Department of Health sent WFLA TV's Vice President Mark Higgins, a letter that tells them the advertisement is not only false, it is dangerous, uh, dangerous, uh, the ad is illegal under section 3 8 6 0.01 of Florida law that allows the state to remove any nuisance that threatens or impairs people's health, censorship abuse of power, straight up authoritarian fascism.

That's what this is. This isn't about protecting people's health. Nobody's health is in jeopardy because of this ad. Okay? Like you, you can't even pretend to stretch that law to say that this is endangering people's lives. That, that, that, nope, that's not a thing. But this little mini Mussolini, this little Hitler, wannabe Hitler in heels is what he is. That's what we'll call him. Hitler in heels where I live in Florida, he is threatening this TV station with legal action because he doesn't like what they're saying because that six week abortion ban is his only signature issue that the courts haven't overturned. That's all he is got left and if Amendment four passes, then he's got nothing. He has no legacy. So he would rather shred the Constitution interfere with political issues that he's not even allowed to interfere on, hoping nobody notices. He would rather do that than watch the last of his signature issues go down the tubes. That's what we are dealing with in Florida. I hope Amendment four passes. I will be voting in favor of Amendment four and hopefully most of the state will follow suit.