Florida Governor Ron DeSantis delivered a blistering indictment of Republican congressional leadership after Tuesday’s disastrous midterm elections. He accused GOP lawmakers of wasting nearly two years in which Republicans controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress.
During an appearance with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, DeSantis focused [1] his fire on Senate Republicans. He said they failed to pursue an aggressive immigration agenda, codify President Donald Trump’s executive orders, or confront federal courts that obstructed the administration’s deportation efforts.
His central complaint was blunt: Republicans received a historic opening to reshape the country and failed to use it. Democrats captured both chambers of Congress in the November 3 midterms, leaving that opportunity to slip away.
DeSantis offered a withering assessment of the squandered moment. “If you’re going to do huge conservative things that are going to reorient the country for a generation, fine. But I saw no indication that the current group of Republican senators were interested in doing that type of bold conservative change.”
The Florida governor then listed immigration measures he believed lawmakers should have pursued. His examples included shutting off H-1B visas, putting Trump’s immigration executive orders into law, and restricting federal court jurisdiction over deportation cases.
“Why haven’t we done immigration, shut off H-1B visas? Why haven’t we codified Trump’s immigration executive orders?” he asked. “Why haven’t we stripped jurisdiction from the federal courts over deportation cases? There’s so many things that could have been done. They didn’t even attempt it, Laura.”
The remarks directly challenged the Republican establishment, particularly Senate leadership under John Thune. Republican leaders had pointed to procedural obstacles and insufficient votes when explaining why they could not advance major conservative priorities.
DeSantis was not buying the familiar excuse. “They would say, ‘Oh, if only we needed 50 votes, we would have done it.’ You don’t have 50 votes for doing conservative things. You’ve never shown that you’ll do conservative things even with 50 votes.”
He suggested Republican leadership’s lack of meaningful legislative victories contributed to the party’s devastating losses. DeSantis also said some conservative voters stayed home because they were frustrated with the House and Senate’s lack of productivity.
“But a lot of our voters who stayed home, they stayed home because they were frustrated with the lack of productivity from Republicans in the House and Senate.”
With Democrats set to take control of the Senate on January 3, 2027, DeSantis issued an urgent demand. He called on Republican senators to use their remaining weeks to confirm as many of Trump’s conservative judicial nominees as possible.
He urged senators to abandon their normal schedule and work continuously to fill federal judicial vacancies. “ROLL IN COTS to the US Senate Cloakroom! Have them work around the clock. You are NOT gonna be able to confirm ANY conservative judges starting Jan. 3 for the remainder of President Trump’s term.”
DeSantis pointed to the incoming Democratic Senate majority while dismissing the possibility that several Democrats could rescue Trump’s judicial agenda. “54 for sure, may end up with 56. Even if you got some red state Dems to flip, you are NOT getting 6 Dems.”
His final instruction left no room for the Senate’s usual dawdling. “Make sure EVERY VACANCY IS FILLED between NOW and Jan. 3.”
The criticism followed months of mounting frustration among grassroots conservatives watching Republicans struggle to advance priorities despite control of Washington. The Gateway Pundit had repeatedly reported on Thune’s failure to secure passage of Trump’s SAVE America Act.
In June, the outlet reported that Thune rejected Trump’s demand to attach the SAVE America Act to FISA reauthorization, saying the move would jeopardize the surveillance legislation. Thune maintained that Republicans lacked enough votes to overcome Democratic opposition, while Trump repeatedly demanded action.
In August, the outlet reported that Thune told Republican voters to blame Democrats for the stalled election legislation rather than GOP leaders. Instead of eliminating the legislative filibuster, he urged the party to make the issue a campaign priority and elect more Republicans.
The election results made that strategy look far less convincing. The Gateway Pundit also reported that Trump warned in September that Republicans risked their political future if they failed to pass the SAVE America Act.
Trump specifically called on Senate Republicans to abolish the filibuster and enact the legislation. DeSantis’s post election message was similarly unforgiving: use the power still available before Democrats take control, especially to fill every judicial vacancy.