Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost travelled to CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday where he teamed up with the eponymous host to accuse Republicans of being “okay with kids being mowed down at their schools” and instituting poll taxes.
During a discussion President Biden’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention, Colbert wondered, “What will it hope to do? And I know, prevent gun violence. But, sort of, is there anything analogous in the government right now that it would-- might be modeled on?”
Frost listed three things, the first being, “speed up the implementation of what's called the bipartisan Safer Communities Act. What is that? Well, last year, Congress for the first time in 30 years passed the first piece of gun violence prevention legislation. There's a lot of money in there that can be given to cities and nonprofits across the country to help end gun violence.”
What kind of nonprofits? Because the left like to use “gun violence prevention” as a euphemism for gun control, it is a fair question. But, Frost kept going and got more insane, “As you said, Congress can't do anything right now and honestly even if we had another Republican Speaker, we probably wouldn't be passing legislation on gun violence because it seems like they're okay with kids being mowed down at their schools.”
Colbert did nothing as Frost rolled right along, “And so the president said enough is enough, created this office and part of what they're going to do is figuring out how do we pass through executive action good things so that way we can end gun violence.”
“Good things.” As opposed to bad things? What about unconstitutional things? Naturally, Colbert didn’t have any follow-up questions as he went to a commercial break after Frost urged a FEMA-like “apparatus” that would go to communities affected by a shooting.
Concluding the second segment, Colbert asked, “Florida gets a bad rap, you know? And do you think it's deserved? Or do-- would you like to set the record straight about Florida Man?”
Frost tried to argue that Florida is actually a progressive state and cited a few policies to try to back up his claim, one of which was “giving voting rights to people with previous felonies.” The problem, from Frost’s perspective is “the difference between policy and politics and that's why we have a governor –”
Colbert then interrupted to accuse Gov. Ron DeSantis of suppressing the vote, “giving the vote back to people who had served their sentences, well, roadblocks were thrown in front of that by the DeSantis Administration where you had to pay fees back or something like that.”
Frost jumped in to label it “a poll tax,” which Colbert quickly agreed with, “A poll tax to get it back, so how do you square your vision of Florida being actually progressive and something like a six-week abortion ban that was just signed by DeSantis. Those things don't seem to go together.”
Requiring felons to pay back their fines is not a poll tax, especially in the historical sense of the word. As for Colbert’s abortion question, Frost falsely accused DeSantis of running away from the issue, “he doesn't talk about it on his presidential campaign because he knows it's bad policy, right?”
Throughout the two segments, there were no questions about Hamas
Here is a transcript for the October-10 taped show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
10/11/2023
12:22 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: What will it hope to do? And I know, prevent gun violence. But, sort of, is there anything analogous in the government--
MAXWELL FROST: Yeah.
COLBERT: -- right now that it would-- might be modeled on? Like what—
FROST: Yeah, it has three main missions. Number one, to speed up the implementation of what's called the bipartisan Safer Communities Act. What is that? Well, last year, Congress for the first time in 30 years passed the first piece of gun violence prevention legislation. There's a lot of money in there that can be given to cities and nonprofits across the country to help end gun violence. We want to speed that process up so they’re working at doing that.
Number two, they are managing the president's portfolio on gun violence and figuring out what executive actions can we take. As you said, Congress can't do anything right now and honestly even if we had another Republican Speaker, we probably wouldn't be passing legislation on gun violence because it seems like they're okay with kids being mowed down at their schools.
And so the president said enough is enough, created this office and part of what they're going to do is figuring out how do we pass through executive action good things so that way we can end gun violence.
And the third one is, look, when the shootings happen, there needs to be an apparatus that comes in and helps the community heal. We might move on when it's outside of the news, but at the end of the day, who doesn't move on is the community and the families. So, they're working to act, sort of, like a FEMA, right? After a natural disaster, how do you go to these communities and help them rebuild and bring people along on this fight to make sure it never happens again.
…
12:30
COLBERT: Before I let you go; I want to ask you something about your home state. Florida gets a bad rap, you know? And do you think it's deserved? Or do-- would you like to set the record straight about Florida Man?
FROST: I’m proud to be a Florida man. I am proud to be a Florida man. I think we have a beautiful state. I used it to say “I come from the great state of Florida.” I say the beautiful state and we are a beautiful state, you know? I always want people to know that Florida is actually a progressive state in terms of policy. Within the last few election cycles over 60 percent of Floridians have said yes to medical marijuana, a $15 minimum wage, giving voting rights to people with previous felonies. These are progressive policies that most Floridians are for and so we have a problem right now with the difference between policy and politics and that's why we have a governor –
COLBERT: And implementation too isn’t it?
FROST: Yeah.
COLBERT: Because the 15, allowing people-- giving the vote back to people--
FROST: Yeah.
COLBERT: -- who had served their sentences, well, roadblocks were thrown in front of that--
FROST: Yeah.
COLBERT: -- by the DeSantis Administration--
FROST: Exactly.
COLBERT: Where you had to pay fees back or something like that.
FROST: A poll tax.
COLBERT: A poll tax to get it back, so how do you square your vision of Florida being actually progressive and something like a six-week abortion ban that was just signed by DeSantis. Those things don't seem to go together.
FROST: They don’t go together and that’s why he signed that abortion ban in the middle of the night at like 1 or 2 AM and he doesn't talk about it on his presidential campaign because he knows it's bad policy, right? It’s something the majority of Floridians are not for and so that’s that difference between politics and policy. DeSantis and people like him really thrive when there's ambiguity there. What does he talk about? Wokeness and culture wars. He's not talking about bills because when he talks about that, he knows his approvals will go down because most Floridians disagree with it and you see it at the ballot box. I want to tell everyone too: next year abortion will be on the ballot in Florida and we will see it pass and hopefully that will give—yeah—hopefully that will give some inspiration to people in our state.
