Ron DeSantis has spent years positioning himself as a Trump ally who gets things done.
That alliance just hit a major speed bump.
And Ron DeSantis filed one bill that just shattered Donald Trump's plans for AI.
DeSantis charges ahead despite Trump's direct order
Florida Republican Senator Tom Leek filed legislation Monday that Governor Ron DeSantis has been demanding for months — a sweeping "Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights" that would regulate how AI companies operate in Florida.¹
The timing couldn't be worse for Donald Trump.
Just 11 days earlier, Trump signed an executive order specifically designed to stop states like Florida from doing exactly what DeSantis is now doing.²
Trump's December 11 order makes crystal clear that states need to back off AI regulation.
The President established an "AI Litigation Task Force" inside the Justice Department with one job — sue states that try to regulate artificial intelligence.³
Trump even threatened to withhold billions in federal broadband funding from states that don't comply.⁴
DeSantis knew all this when he pushed forward with his AI bill anyway.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1996679744629461194?s=20
Florida's AI power grab sets up constitutional showdown
DeSantis's bill reads like a direct challenge to Trump's authority.
Senate Bill 482 would ban minors from creating AI chatbot accounts without parental consent.⁵
It forces AI companies to disclose when users are talking to machines instead of humans.
The legislation empowers parents to monitor every conversation their kids have with artificial intelligence.
The bill goes further by blocking Florida government agencies from contracting with any AI company tied to China, Russia, or other adversary nations.⁶
Trump's executive order called state AI regulations a "patchwork" that threatens America's ability to compete with China in the AI race.⁷
"To win, United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation," Trump's order stated. "But excessive State regulation thwarts this imperative."⁸
DeSantis responded by claiming Florida's approach is perfectly fine because Trump's order includes exceptions for child safety laws.
"Even reading it very broadly, I think the stuff we're doing is going to be very consistent," DeSantis said during a December 15 appearance. "But irrespective, clearly, we have a right to do this."⁹
That's retreat mode disguised as confidence.
https://twitter.com/ReOpenChris/status/2000628301358837788?s=20
DeSantis's track record shows why Trump should be worried
This isn't DeSantis's first rodeo trying to regulate Big Tech.
His record shows a pattern of aggressive legislation that gets slapped down in federal court.
In 2021, DeSantis signed a law preventing social media companies from banning political candidates and forcing platforms to publish their content moderation standards.¹⁰
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled it unconstitutional, saying the government can't tell private companies what to say.¹¹
DeSantis didn't learn his lesson.
Last year he signed another social media law banning children under 14 from having accounts.¹²
Tech industry group NetChoice immediately sued, arguing the law violates the First Amendment.¹³
That case is still working through federal courts.
Now DeSantis is doing it again with AI — pushing legislation his lawyers assure him will survive legal challenges while ignoring the President's explicit directive to stop.
https://twitter.com/ReOpenChris/status/2002424619710755132?s=20
The Florida AI bill contains provisions that go far beyond child safety.
It establishes "rights" for all Florida residents regarding AI use, requires disclosure of AI-generated political advertisements, and sets up an enforcement mechanism through the state Attorney General's office.¹⁴
Those provisions don't fit neatly into Trump's child safety exception.
They're the exact kind of state-level AI regulation Trump's executive order was designed to crush.
Tech industry groups that sued Florida over the social media laws are watching closely.
NetChoice vice president Carl Szabo has already warned that rushing to regulate AI without considering constitutional issues puts states on a collision course with federal authority.
Trump created the AI Litigation Task Force for precisely this scenario.
The Justice Department now has 30 days to identify state AI laws that conflict with Trump's national framework and challenge them in court.¹⁵
DeSantis just handed them their first target.
The irony is thick.
DeSantis built his political brand on being the governor who implements Trump's vision more aggressively than Trump himself.
He fought COVID lockdowns when Trump waffled.
He shipped illegal immigrants to Martha's Vineyard to prove a point about border security.
Now DeSantis is openly defying a Trump executive order because he thinks he knows better.
That's not the move of a loyal ally.
It's the move of a politician who still sees himself as presidential material and wants to prove he won't be pushed around — even by Trump.
The collision between DeSantis's AI regulation push and Trump's federal framework creates exactly the kind of messy legal fight that benefits nobody except lawyers.
It diverts resources from actually protecting children online.
It creates uncertainty for AI companies trying to comply with the law.
And it hands Democrats ammunition to argue Republicans can't govern consistently even when they control everything.
Trump's team sees this clearly.
That's why the executive order includes financial penalties for states that don't fall in line.
DeSantis is gambling that his legislation threads the needle between Trump's child safety exception and the broader regulatory framework Trump wants to establish nationally.
History suggests DeSantis is wrong.
His previous attempts at tech regulation crashed and burned in federal court.
This time he's not just fighting Big Tech's lawyers — he's fighting the Trump Administration's Justice Department.
That's a fight DeSantis can't win.
But he's apparently willing to try anyway, even if it means creating a massive headache for the President he claims to support.
¹ Christine Sexton, "Proposed Florida bill would limit AI chatbots for minors," Islander News, December 23, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ "Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence," White House, December 11, 2025.
⁴ Jesse Bedayn, "What to Know About Trump's Executive Order to Curtail State AI Regulations," Carrier Management, December 22, 2025.
⁵ Sexton, "Proposed Florida bill would limit AI chatbots for minors."
⁶ Jim Turner, "Florida AI bill of rights proposal emerges," News Service of Florida, December 22, 2025.
⁷ "Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence," White House.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Turner, "Florida AI bill of rights proposal emerges."
¹⁰ Brian Fung, "Florida governor signs bill targeting social media platforms," CNN Business, May 25, 2021.
¹¹ Bobby Allyn, "An appeals court finds Florida's social media law unconstitutional," NPR, May 23, 2022.
¹² Lawrence Mower, "DeSantis signs social media ban for children," Orlando Sentinel, March 25, 2024.
¹³ Ibid.
¹⁴ Sexton, "Proposed Florida bill would limit AI chatbots for minors."
¹⁵ "Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence," White House.
