Today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spoke with Condoleezza Rice and Hoover fellows about policy matters and hosted a public discussion where he argued the proof his governing style is working can be seen in how quickly Florida is growing. Larry Diamond warns of a continuing slide in democratic norms in America this year. And Victor Davis Hanson criticizes how Tucker Carlson handled his latest podcast guest, Nick Fuentes.
Empowering State and Local Governance
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis discussed pressing policy issues during a Hoover Institution visit on October 17, before speaking to the wider Stanford community about his vision for the future of his state. DeSantis and his wife Casey discussed matters including economics, state and local policy, healthcare, and K–12 education with a number of leading Hoover fellows. Later, during a public Q&A session hosted by Hoover Institution Director Condoleezza Rice, DeSantis spoke of how his state has seen millions of Americans move there in the past six years. Since his election as governor in 2019, DeSantis said, his core approach has been to keep pace with the enormous infrastructure and services demand brought about by millions of Americans moving to Florida since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more here.
Revitalizing American Institutions
In Persuasion, Senior Fellow Larry Diamond marks a year since the 2024 presidential election by documenting what he says are US President Donald Trump’s “serious offenses against democracy” in the months since. He cites the demolition of the White House East Wing without following congressional procedure, his removal of 17 inspectors general from their posts, his prosecution of James Comey and Letitia James, and the new interagency group tasked with “identifying and retaliating against” various federal officials perceived to be anti-Trump. He compares the activities of Trump this year to the 12-step program for autocracy that Diamond outlined in his 2019 book Ill Winds, and says the results are stark. Read more here.
Speaking on Newsmax, Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson criticizes podcast host Tucker Carlson over his recent interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes. He tells host Chris Salcedo that Carlson did not do enough to interrogate Fuentes and his statements, especially those that appeared to downplay Fuentes’s well-documented history of anti-Semitism. “Almost everything that Nick Fuentes said was demonstrably false and designed for other reasons, and [Carlson] didn’t challenge him,” Hanson said. “That was the problem.” Hanson points out Carlson has had other guests on his podcast that espoused misinformation, such as the pseudo historian Darryl Cooper, and failed to appropriately challenge them. Watch the conversation here.
Reforming K–12 Education
Research that links immigration enforcement operations in Central California to lower school attendance in the months that followed has now been published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The research, conducted by Senior Fellow Thomas Dee, finds that immigration raids in early 2025 had immediate and statistically significant consequences for school attendance. The enforcement actions, dubbed “Operation Return to Sender” by US Customs and Border Protection, resulted in a 22 percent increase in daily student absences in Central California communities, which persisted for at least two months. The research also finds that the impact was particularly pronounced among the youngest students, with pre-kindergarten children showing an even higher absence rate of 32 percent. Read more here.
Revitalizing History
On the latest episode of Matters of Policy & Politics, host Bill Whalen speaks with visiting fellow Daniel Flynn, author of The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer. Flynn tells Whalen about Meyer’s life, which took him through Princeton and Oxford, and involved disparate topics including deportation, socialism, capitalism, and the work of Friedrich Hayek. Meyer’s life also saw him become close with William F. Buckley Jr, who credits Meyer with fusing together traditionalism and libertarianism in modern conservatism. Watch or listen to their conversation here.
Answering Challenges to Advanced Economies
In a video for Policy Stories, Distinguished Research Fellow Dan Berkenstock speaks about how venture capital can help the Pentagon acquire the weapons and tools it needs. Artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and advanced sensors are transforming warfare. Yet the United States still relies on slow, risk-averse procurement systems designed for another era. Hundreds of defense-tech startups stand ready to deliver faster, cheaper, and more adaptable solutions — but many stall in the “valley of death” between prototype and production. Berkenstock outlines approaches and strategies that could help defense-tech startups enter the procurement pipeline and broaden America’s defense industrial base. Watch the video here.
Related Commentary