Is DeSantis about to leverage COVID vaccines against Trump and the Democrats?

No matter one's opinion of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, no one can fairly state he doesn’t know how to “read a room.”

Americans — especially Republicans and conservatives — are not only tired of “COVID-mania” but more and more people are starting to question the efficacy of the vaccines. No one knows this better than DeSantis, who worked hard to fashion Florida into a safe harbor protected from the perceived COVID overreach and lockdowns. 

Now, as DeSantis prepares to launch an investigation into how the vaccines were promoted and marketed in Florida, an interesting political bonus emerges if we connect a few dots: It puts former President Donald Trump and the Democrats directly on the spot.    

This past Tuesday, DeSantis — who won reelection in November in a landslide and now leads Trump in the latest Wall Street Journal poll among Republicans to become the GOP nominee for president in 2024, if he runs — announced that he will seek a grand jury investigation into the pushing of the vaccines. “I’m announcing a petition with the Supreme Court of Florida to impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate any and all wrongdoing in Florida with respect to COVID-19 vaccines,” he said. “…We anticipate that we will get the approval for that. … It is against the law to mislead and to misrepresent, particularly when you’re talking about the efficacy of a drug.”

Now, those who may oppose DeSantis — whether it be Trump in a primary, Democrats, the liberal media, or celebrity activists — underestimate the governor at their own peril, especially when it comes to legal matters.

DeSantis graduated with honors from Yale before his acceptance to Harvard Law School. After Harvard, he enlisted in the Navy and became a JAG lawyer, supporting Navy SEALS in Iraq before leaving the service to work in a Florida law firm. He has a real, and proactive, understanding of the law, something he has honed during his relatively brief political career. While announcing the grand jury investigation, DeSantis noted: “Just recently, Florida got $3.2 billion through legal action against those responsible for the opioid crisis. … It’s not like this is something that is unprecedented.” 

Some might see that as throwing down a gauntlet at the feet of Pfizer, Moderna and other drug manufacturers responsible for the vaccines. But more importantly, it’s a statement that reminds those who oppose him that they have some political exposure on this issue — and DeSantis has the will and the resources to capitalize on it.

One who certainly has his fingerprints all over the “COVID Chronicles” is Trump. While the liberal media and the Biden White House went all-in to push the vaccines and seemingly tried to elevate Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to sainthood, many conservatives and Republicans hold strongly opposing views.

Almost three full years after the onset of the pandemic, Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed” to develop vaccines and the retention of Fauci and appointment of Dr. Deborah Birx as Trump’s White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, could be used against Trump if someone wants to go down that road.

It’s a road that, according to Vanity Fair, DeSantis may be surveying to ensure the least-bumpy ride possible. In a recent article, “Ron DeSantis: The Making and Remaking (and Remaking) of a MAGA Heir,” the magazine quotes a Republican source as saying that the first broadside DeSantis would fire against Trump would be: “Why didn’t you fire Fauci?”

Vanity Fair’s perceived liberal bias aside, many Republicans and conservatives do consider that to be a valid question to pose to Trump. If asked at the right time, by someone who has the ear of the Republican Party, it might open a Pandora’s box of pent up frustration and anger — directed at not only Trump, but also the Democratic Party.

If DeSantis does get his grand jury empaneled, and they return indictments, regardless of any immunity due from holding public office, some fallout will descend upon Trump and a number of high-profile Democrats. And no matter how much they brush off that radioactive dust, some of it will stick. Will it be enough for voters in the Republican primary and 2024 general election to notice? Time will tell, but the Florida governor may have just signaled he is multiple moves into a political chess match in which his potential opponents have yet to advance a pawn.  

Douglas MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration.