It's important to
note that the so-called
anti woke
strategy from Ron DeSantis
we were discussing
before the break does have
its fans are Ellie
Reeve men,
a group of women
from different parts
of the country
with various political backgrounds,
but also, they say,
bonding online over their appreciation
of the now presidential candidate
and its actions surrounding COVID
If DeSantis were to run tomorrow,
he would win.
And that would be such a hard
pill to swallow.
I think for many people, back in 20,
21, Vanessa Stein Kemp
was the first person who told me
she was a fan of Florida Governor
Ron DeSantis
and that there were more like her.
When we first spoke to you in 20, 21,
you mentioned that you had this group
of mom friends that you met on Twitter
who are just obsessed with DeSantis,
and it just stuck in my mind for years.
He would just Duke staff
and say stuff with this conviction.
We're all like, Thank you.
Did you guys have a nickname for him?
Daddy DeSantis
I mean, it's
all joking, of course,
because we're like desperate women
who had tried
everything that we could do
in our own power, in our own communities.
And we weren't getting anywhere.
He was very vocal
starting in the summer of 20, 20,
about the need to open schools
in particular
during the COVID lockdowns in 20, 20.
These frustrated moms built
an informal Twitter
network of people
angry about closed schools
and the difficulty of remote learning.
They were from all over the country,
but side to Santas as a model
of what they wanted in their cities.
School is a safe haven.
I mean,
when I started advocating for kids
to go back in-person,
I was called a granny killer.
A teacher killer.
Selfish on Twitter.
Oh, my God. They were.
It was awful.
Staying camp
as a teacher in Dallas
and warned early on that
lockdowns would hurt kids,
especially poor kids.
We can't forget our most vulnerable.
And we've just created the single largest
inequality generator in a generation
by having some schools open,
some schools closed.
On Twitter, Stine Camp
connected with June, say,
then a Levi's executive
who moved her family from San Francisco
to Denver in early 20, 21
so she could send her
kids to school in person.
We quickly
sort of found a community online,
and I found it
really interesting that she was a teacher
that was advocating for in-person school
in San Francisco.
You could go to a bar or a strip club.
But my high school student
couldn't go to English class.
Say says she was forced
out of Levi's in 20, 22
because of her COVID tweets,
which the company told NPR,
undermined its own health
and safety policies
and sowed confusion among employees.
90% of what I wrote about
was playgrounds in schools
and there's nothing
embarrassing about that now.
There were
several active
group chats
where the moms shared news
about COVID in DeSantis,
one group of more than 80 people,
and they traveled to each other's homes
Many had been lifelong Democrats,
including Julie Hammill,
who has three kids and lives near L.A..
Only vaguely. You voted for Obama
twice.
Clinton Yes.
Did you vote for Biden?
Yes.
I have never voted for a Republican
presidential candidate.
I have always considered myself
very socially liberal.
But as we became more vocal on Twitter,
we were really demonized.
In 20, 22,
she ran for school board in Palos
Verdes and won.
So I'm going to fight back
and was an active defender
of her Twitter friends
They aren't crazy.
Data from the Education Department
shows kids have been hurt by long term
remote learning.
Black and brown students
more than white kids in August 2020.
DeSantis was early
to open schools compared to other U.S.
states, but not the world.
Many European countries
went back under national policies in May.
20, 20 for example,
a Finland health official cited
data that kids
didn't play a significant role
in spreading the virus.
But in the last two years,
DeSantis has launched
his presidential campaign
and focused more on the culture war.
We will make sure as president
we leave woke ideology in the dustbin
of history where it belongs.
The Twitter backlash
they experienced
made these women more
receptive to parts of DeSantis,
his fight against wokeness.
But not all of it.
I'm wondering
if you think that DeSantis is you know,
very public.
More on work distracts from the message
that you like about him a little bit.
I do, yeah.
Because, I mean, to be honest, I.
I do feel like it would be really good
to have a big public debate about
what did we get wrong in COVID?
The left doesn't
want to have that debate.
They're never going to allow that debate.
I think there's a lot
of kind of incendiary
tactics being used to smear him.
I think
there's a sign, a law that restricts
transgender care
for adults as well as kids.
I have greater concerns
about the six week abortion ban
about that.
I think if he made it clear
that he's a state's rights person
and that
he is not
looking to kind of pass a national law
in this regard, I would be less concerned
Not everyone in their Twitter
orbit agrees on his tactics.
But these three do think Florida's
new six week abortion ban is bad.
I think that's dangerous.
That's
something that I cannot get behind.
And I don't think that's going to bode
well for his presidential campaign.
I think that
that might be a real impediment to
bringing in moderate women
None of these women like
the idea of a 20, 24 rematch
between Biden and Trump.
They're open to voting for DeSantis,
but are not sold.
So there's been criticism
from Republicans
that DeSantis is like to online
that his campaign is too influenced
by stuff
that's popping online
but isn't affecting people in their life.
So someone struggling to pay their bills
isn't thinking about pronouns.
Is it possible that's true?
Oh, I don't think so.
I've been down all over Florida.
And you know what? They all say.
He helped my business open up.
He helped my kids go to school.
The media just fixates on the culture
war pieces.
Is it possible that you are too online?
Yes, for sure.
In the beginning, but not anymore.
Do I need to fight
with some random online?
I would love to be off Twitter, but
I feel like
there are discussions
that need to be had.
For all the bad that comes with it.
There is also a good
and I've connected with all of these
like minded women
who are not alt right demons their moms
who have been unseen and unheard.
Ellie Reeve, CNN, Dallas.
Our thanks to Ellie for that.