DeSantis joins Florida Surgeon General at McIntyre event

MANCHESTER, NH – Republican Presidential Candidate Ron DeSantis was joined by Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo in a “medical freedom” event at McIntyre Ski Area on Wednesday.

Ladapo opened the event with details of his background and how he became disenchanted with life in California during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic as his analysis of data led him to question orthodox thoughts on the pandemic.

“It was like someone took a blanket of pure fear and placed it over the administrators of hospitals,” he said.

Eventually, his frustration led him to accept a position with DeSantis’ administration. While Ladapo had praise for current GOP frontrunner and former U.S. President Donald Trump, he said that DeSantis was on another level.

“It was very clear to me that here was a man who was willing to do what he believed what was right,” he said. “He doesn’t have to wake up every day and say today I’m going to have courage. It’s part of who he is and it’s a very special thing.”

DeSantis built on Ladapo’s introduction, challenging what he saw as a lack of accountability from federal medical elites, ultimately needlessly damaging the mental health of Americans through too much isolation.

“’It’s one thing to make a judgment call, but it’s another thing when the data is clear and you refuse to reverse course,” said DeSantis.

He noted that there should be term limits for government employees, a prohibition on local governments creating medically-related laws and prohibitions on anyone working for a pharmaceutical company then working for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

DeSantis also criticized Congressional aid packages provided during the pandemic under Trump and then Joe Biden, stating that it triggered inflation.

In taking questions from the assembled audience, Ladapo voiced concerns about giving COVID-19 vaccines to children, noting studies that have shown connections between COVID-19 vaccinations and myocarditis.

DeSantis also said if elected, he would “defund the United Nations” and supported giving more aid to Israel, firing 87,000 IRS Agents, and limiting the power of the Federal Reserve.

Democrats were quick to criticize DeSantis leading up to the event.

“Ron DeSantis’s attempt to resurrect his old and tired anti-vaccine tantrum today is a reminder to voters that he played political games with Florida’s COVID response at every turn in a cheap effort to score political points with the extreme MAGA movement,” said Democratic National Committee spokesperson Sarafina Chitika. “No matter how hard he tries to revive his floundering campaign, DeSantis can’t rewrite his record of putting Floridians’ lives at risk by pushing bizarre conspiracy theories, refusing to order vaccines for young children, and signaling support for prosecuting vaccine providers.”

“As governor, Ron DeSantis has used his power to push dangerous anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, sowing distrust in lifesaving medical treatments while COVID deaths skyrocketed in Florida. DeSantis is just repeating his same dangerous political games with people’s lives in New Hampshire,” said New Hampshire Democratic Party spokesperson Aida Ross.