Ron DeSantis, the energetic executive

Any outdoorsman knows that it's infinitely more difficult to hit a moving target than a standing target at the same distance. Applying that fact to governing sums up Gov. DeSantis' approach to reforming the FBI and DOJ. According to Philip Wegmann's stellar reporting for RealClearPolitics, a President DeSantis plans on being "an energetic executive", especially when it comes to revamping the DOJ and FBI.

According to Wegmann's reporting, Gov. DeSantis "wants to physically remove large swathes of the DOJ from the District of Columbia, including FBI headquarters, RealClearPolitics is first to report." That's certain to cause quite the uproar from the 'we've never done it that way before' crowd, aka the establishment. The thing with Gov. DeSantis has a "Day One Plan" for the DOJ and FBI. The goal of a DeSantis administration isn't "just to wage war on the so-called deep state, but to end it."

The intellectual firepower brought into staff this working group is impressive:

DeSantis has assembled a brain trust of academics, members of Congress, and former administration officials to draw up step-by-step blueprints for tearing the DOJ and FBI down to the studs for a rebuild.

He consults frequently with Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Chip Roy of Texas, conservatives always at war with government bureaucracy and openly hostile to federal power. Steven Bradbury of the Heritage Foundation and Victor Davis Hanson of the Hoover Institution have also joined the working group to offer technical expertise and historical perspective.

There have been regular conference calls, detailed memos, and at least one policy retreat in Tallahassee earlier this year. The work is ongoing because their enemy, the so-called “deep state,” is vast. Their aim is nothing short of crippling it once and for all.

While this interview happened a couple months ago, it's still a great glimpse into Gov. DeSantis's thinking on Congress's role in bringing reform to the federal government:

Gov. DeSantis is talking the talk about action and reform. Normally, that'd worry me. Because he's gotten so much done as governor, though, I'm a little less skeptical of him:

While the current Republican frontrunner was famous for telling celebrities, "You're Fired" on television, the DeSantis campaign insists the governor would follow through in the Oval Office. DeSantis promised that as president, there'd be a "new sheriff in town," one who doesn’t mind sending federal employees into early retirement. He isn’t the only one making these kinds of arguments.

I'm skeptical of this statement:

Trump said in Iowa earlier this month that he could tame the bureaucrats who tormented his tenure "in six months." DeSantis countered in New Hampshire that anyone making that kind of claim should be asked, "Why didn’t you do that when you had four years to try?" Only a two-term president can finish that job, he added, because otherwise, "bureaucrats will wait you out if you’re a lame duck president."

This is the type of project that requires discipline and focus. Saying that those aren't Trump's strong suits is understatement. Trump's got the attention span of a gnat.

I like this:

DeSantis has also expressed an appetite for revoking security clearances of former intelligence officials, members of what he calls "the intelligence and national security class" often employed, after their public service, as paid cable news contributors. He already has a list: the more than 50 former senior intelligence officials who signed a public letter saying the Hunter Biden laptop story amounted to Russian disinformation.

I don't want an executive that fights the good fight. I want a president that fixes things. Trying isn't enough. Fixing things is the standard.