It was just another reminder of how embarrassing Governor Mike DeWine has been for Ohio. When DeWine ordered vodka made by Russian Standard for sale in Ohio’s 487 liquor agencies banned from purchase in the state, it was Covid all over again. An out-of-control power-hungry governor who loves to take orders from the United Nations, a politician all his life worth more than 20 million dollars for public service. A politician who was at the center of almost every corruption story around him during that entire duration. Here he was telling store owners what they could sell and when they would sell it based on some version of geopolitical circumstances only he understood. How much of an unstable business environment could you ask for from a governor with such a terrible track record during his first term. If we had elected a Democrat, we likely would have had a more conservative governor. And with all that said, it’s incredible that the microchip processing company Intel is planning to build a $20 billion facility in New Albany, Ohio, just north of Columbus by 2025. The DeWine reelection people are trying to take credit for the big announcement, but I would say that Intel is coming to Ohio despite DeWine, not because of him.
Ohio is such a great place for businesses. For Intel, they were looking for a lot of flat land access to plentiful water supplies. They needed access to some of the nation’s best universities, which within 200 miles of the New Albany Intel site are many of the biggest, including Ohio State, right down the road. And from there are some of the best highway access routes in the world, with I-71 running north and south and I-70 running east to west. You can get anywhere from central Ohio, making it one of the most attractive sites in the world for building a semiconductor plant. Taiwan has a great location, and so does South Korea. But given the state of the world these days and the need for Intel to become the dominant chipmaker once again, this move to Ohio is a tremendous strategic opportunity not just for them, or Ohio, but for an America First agenda. America can not become a top manufacturer of anything ever again without controlling chip-making. I know that our Ohio House and Senate have done a great job over the last ten years creating lots of deregulations that would attract business to Ohio, so it’s all those things that made it possible for this to happen. We are fortunate that Ohio is so attractive that Mike DeWine couldn’t screw that up too.
However, think about how much better it could be if we had a governor more like Ron DeSantis from Florida rather than Mike DeWine in Ohio. DeSantis obviously is a Trump Republican, whereas DeWine is to the left of John Kasich, the blue-turning progressive who predated DeWine. Ohio has had some bad governors. It’s had some good legislators and senator members, but a string of governors have run as Republicans and turned hard left while in office toward extreme progressives. With DeWine, he was a disaster with Covid orders. He fell in love with ordering people around all during Covid and cost many billions of dollars in losses, harmed many businesses, and destroyed the lives of countless people. For anybody who thought that trend went away, all it took in the world was for Putin to invade Ukraine, and suddenly DeWine wanted to ban the sale of vodka to people wanting to buy it. How does he know the people selling the vodka from Russia support Putin? That’s like being attacked by space aliens and then DeWine banning the sale of Star Wars figures from our local Target store. For him to pick such an extreme position in a war that isn’t even our business is a clear indication to all companies that if there is some geopolitical circumstance that might befall them, they could lose their business at the drop of a hat by a governor’s order. Mike DeWine is a tyrant, not a leader.
We could get rid of DeWine in the upcoming primary, but the corrupt money machine behind his tyrannical imprint is hard at work trying to find a way to make the Governor look like he did something right. They are trying to give him credit for this Intel deal. But what we see there are looters like Sharrod Brown, Joe Biden, and Mike DeWine, all trying to hang their hat on a real necessity that Intel has to control their supply chain. But luckily, we have an option this time; we have Jim Renacci, who has promised to be Ohio’s own version of Ron DeSantis. Florida, Texas, and many other red states would love to have Ohio’s resources for many more opportunities to arrive than just Intel. Intel is just the tip of a technological iceberg. But we need a real governor to make that happen, not a looting loser beyond corruption who craves desperately to boss people around even over their choice in vodka. The situation in Russia and Ukraine is terrible no matter how it gets sliced up.
On the one hand, you have an extremist in Putin who is bent on war. On the other, a creation of the United Nations, who have done lots of bad things in their own way. That Mike DeWine would so quickly side with the United Nations position actually explains a lot about the level of corruption that has always followed so closely behind him. It certainly shows how under his watch, FirstEnergy was able to be taken over essentially by green activists from Davos from money management firms imposing ESG scores. Instead of defending Ohio’s power grid from an outside attack, DeWine used the situation to get rid of a political rival who was Speaker of the House at the time. DeWine is the king of dirty politics and is a spiteful little man who loves authority much more than should ever be healthy for a public servant.
If we could get rid of DeWine, Ohio could really bloom into prosperity. There are a lot of companies like Intel out there who would love to set up shop and bring great jobs to the infrastructure. But there needs to be a good governor to go with a good House and Senate to make it conducive for significant investment, like what it takes to make the move. It wouldn’t take much for Ohio to beat out Florida and Texas for some of the great opportunities that are in Ohio for the reasons that Intel cited for coming. But to convince them, we need a good governor. Intel decided, not because Mike DeWine was in office but even though he was. Suppose we had a governor like Jim Renacci. He actually understands how businesses work and isn’t trying to punish liquor stores just because they happen to sell Russian vodka during a painful period of global politics. In that case, we might be able to acquire hundreds of billions in investment. But to do that, Ohio would have to have a stable business environment for such investment. And what Mike DeWine reminded everyone with his ban on vodka is that he’s not that guy. Instead, he did remind everyone of his authoritarian nature and a deep desire to boss people around over every little thing, just as he did against churches during the Covid shutdowns. And as he did when he put an abortion rights activist in his administration with Amy Acton, the Dr. Fauci of Ohio. And now he’s done it again over vodka sales. What will it be next? Well, if we vote him out at the primary in May of 2022, we won’t have to worry about it. The power is in our hands.
Rich Hoffman
The Gunfighter's Guide: 