In backing the ultra-controversial plan for “improvements” at Florida State Parks – golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park; huge 350-room “lodges”/hotels at Anastasia and Topsail Hill Preserve state parks, and more – Gov. Ron. DeSantis walked straight into a political buzzsaw.

The question is, did he see it coming – and how could he possibly have missed it?

Outraged? Tell Gov. DeSantis to kill the parks plan by clicking here 

DeSantis has yet to utter a word publicly on FDEP’s “2024-25 Great Outdoors Initiative,” which generated bipartisan outrage up and down the peninsula. Maybe he thought he/FDEP could sneak it all through, and maybe that would have happened had details of the plan not been leaked. But even if it had been kept quiet ’til the last minute, we’d still be seeing a massive eruption of anger.

DeSantis had to realize this, yet he/these proposals plowed forward anyway.

Now, he’s on a political island. Republicans who a year ago would have never publicly opposed DeSantis are doing so en masse. Powerful Republicans at the federal, state and county level across the state are blasting the proposals – and in some cases, blasting him.

Some may merely be dunking on DeSantis, who may have been respected but reportedly was never widely liked in Tallahassee. Now he’s a lame duck, his Presidential campaign is long over and it’s easy for those looking past the DeSantis era to kick him while he’s down.

Still, this may be the most ham-handed thing we’ve ever seen in politics. Can DeSantis possibly be this tone deaf?

Until he deigns to address the controversy publicly, IF he does – we’ll have to assume the answer is “yes.”