Ron DeSantis moves to make Florida more MAGA than Trump

Ron DeSantis is trapped in Donald Trump’s shadow. And his latest strategy to escape it is imitation. In just under two months of the Republican administration arriving in the White House, the city of Tallahassee, the seat of the Florida state government, has been the stage for a series of moves by the governor to make Florida even more MAGA than Trump himself.

With the 2026 elections already on the horizon, Governor DeSantis has floated the idea of his wife, Casey DeSantis, becoming his successor while he seeks to cement his own legacy following the Trumpist playbook. He has created his own state Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), inspired by and modeled on the one led by Elon Musk —despite the fact that, paradoxically, a task force overseeing government efficiency has existed since 2007. The Florida legislature has passed a law that targets undocumented immigrants, in line with the Trumpist narrative vilifying migrants. And, wearing the clothes of tax cuts champions, Republican legislators have proposed another law to eliminate the state property tax, the largest source of revenue in a state that has no income tax.

The new state DOGE, criticized as little more than a publicity stunt, has sparked opposition from both Democrats and Republicans. And the idea of abolishing property taxes has been dismissed as unfeasible by economists, who warn that without an alternative collection method, state coffers that fund public services, from the police to schools, are at risk of drying up.

In the face of these questions, DeSantis has offered only silence, which has also earned him criticism from those who accuse him of just looking for dramatic headlines, without actually solving the real problems of Floridians. “Where was the update on his much-hyped DOGE initiative? Just weeks ago, DeSantis promised a major push on this program — yet today, there was not a single mention of it [in his inaugural address at the State Capitol]. Was it just another empty headline? Floridians deserve answers, not political theater,” Jared Nordlund, state director of UnidosUS, a Hispanic civil rights organization, said in a statement.

Cut, cut, cut

On the operational cuts front, despite Florida’s government having $14.6 billion in reserves and the lowest number of government employees per capita of any state, DeSantis has said he wants to eliminate 740 permanent jobs, plus another 900 filled by contractors associated with dozens of advisory teams. “[Florida’s new DOGE] will eliminate redundant boards and commissions, review state university and college operations and spending, utilize artificial intelligence to further examine state agencies to uncover hidden waste, and even audit the spending habits of local entities to shine the light on waste and bloat”, he announced in late February.

Democrats were quick to point out that the creation of a state DOGE is itself an example of wasteful spending, given the existence of a statutory body with a virtually identical task. “Republicans have been in total control of Florida’s government for nearly 30 years, and he wants to talk about government waste?”, Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, said in a statement. “Ron has consistently passed the largest state budgets in Florida’s history, illegally spent millions of taxpayer dollars to run political campaigns [referring to the accusation that he used his position and resources as governor to campaign against referendums on marijuana legalization and abortion rights], and just allocated $250 million to fund his political scheme on immigration.”

Even among state GOP heavyweights, the response hasn’t been warm. “Let’s focus on what matters. Let’s pass actual reforms instead of symbolic gestures,” said Daniel Perez, the Florida House speaker and a fiscal conservative. Senate President Ben Albritton, also a Republican, as a member of the existing efficiency task force, said he was proud that the state already has a “great framework for accountability” and that they have made numerous recommendations to “improve flexibility and simplify processes.”

The populist proposal to eliminate the property tax presented in the first week of March, meanwhile, has been criticized and basically described as unworkable and potentially destructive. Every state in the country has a property tax, which is collected locally and funds essential services that add value, such as infrastructure or emergency services. In Florida, there are no income taxes, which makes the property tax even more important. The mayor of the city of Oviedo, on the outskirts of Orlando, didn’t mince words in a social media post: “Something close to 100% of the cost of our police and fire departments here in Oviedo are funded by property taxes. Until public safety is figured out, I think ditching property taxes is a dumb idea.”

Research conducted by the Florida Policy Institute think tank following the proposed tax bill estimates that the sales tax would need to be doubled from the current 6% to 12% to offset the lost revenue. This would be the highest tax of its kind in the country and would disproportionately affect lower-income households. DeSantis has ruled out such an increase. So the question of how to fill the gap left by eliminating the property tax remains open. One of the proposed bills includes commissioning a study to answer this question.

Heavy hand on undocumented immigrants

But perhaps the most explicitly Trumpian action has come in the area of immigration. Just two weeks after Trump’s inauguration in Washington, DeSantis controversially and in the face of initial resistance, called an extraordinary session before the official start of the legislative calendar to pass a series of new laws designed to help implement the Republican president’s migratory agenda. The laws —which some consider unconstitutional because they relate to immigration, a federal jurisdiction—make Florida, which for decades has been quite permissive toward immigrants, one of the states that makes the most local resources available to federal immigration agencies.

Among other things, the new legislation increases penalties for all crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, including the death penalty for first-degree offenders, and creates a new crime: entering the state after entering the country illegally. It also allocates nearly $300 million to hire immigration-focused police officers, implement training programs for local agencies, provide bonuses to police officers who assist in federal operations, and lease detention centers.

“Florida has passed the strongest legislation to combat illegal immigration of any state in the entire country,” DeSantis said before signing the bills and handing a sharpie —Trump’s favorite marker— to the legislative leaders who accompanied him. “We are at the forefront of ending the illegal immigration crisis.”

A campaign on the horizon

DeSantis’s second term as governor ends with the November 2026 elections, but the man who ran as a candidate in the Republican primaries last year doesn’t intend for that to be the end of his political career. After losing decisively to Trump in the 2024 Republican primaries, pundits believe that he’ll make a presidential run again in 2028, and to have a chance of winning, he seems to feel the need to underline his Trumpian credentials now that the party has surrendered to the current commander-in-chief. He has also begun positioning his wife, Casey, as his possible successor as governor, pitting her against the man Trump will reportedly endorse in the race in a year and a half.

DeSantis is torn between following Trump’s lead and offering something different to voters. Judging by his recent activity, the bet is on doubling down on Trumpism. It could backfire, as happened in the Republican primaries when he dropped out of the race early after running a campaign in which he marketed himself as a kind of “Trump, but more sensible,” yet was received by voters as a “Trump, but without charisma.” 364 days after quitting that race, Trump was sworn in as President of the United States for the second time, and DeSantis remained in his shadow.

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