New York City hauled Thomas Jefferson out the back door of City Hall while no one was watching.
And today Ron DeSantis drove to a small North Florida county courthouse and planted the Father of the Constitution right in the front yard.
He just answered the woke mob's five-year war on America's founders with a bronze statue.
What DeSantis Did at the Madison County Courthouse
Governor Ron DeSantis stood at the Madison County Courthouse on Thursday and unveiled a statue of James Madison – the man who gave America the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the First Amendment.
This is part of DeSantis's America 250 initiative, a statewide campaign to honor the Founding Fathers in the Florida counties that bear their names.
Washington County got George Washington. Jefferson County got Thomas Jefferson. Franklin County got Benjamin Franklin.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2055030564588245495?s=20
And now Madison County has James Madison – the man historian J.C.A. Stagg called possibly the most influential Founding Father in American history, because he was on the winning side of every major issue the young nation faced from 1776 to 1816.
The statues are secured through the work of Secretary of State Cord Byrd and funded as part of DeSantis's America 250 budget, timed to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026.
Why the Left Spent Five Years Trying to Reduce Madison to a Footnote
James Madison is not some ambiguous historical figure.
He drafted the Virginia Plan that became the framework for the entire Constitution.
He co-wrote the Federalist Papers with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay – the most important explanation of American constitutional government ever put on paper.
He introduced the Bill of Rights on the floor of the House of Representatives on June 8, 1789 – the ten amendments that protect your freedom of speech, your right to bear arms, your freedom of religion, and your protection from illegal search and seizure.
Without James Madison, there is no First Amendment.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2055014831753662775?s=20
There is no Second Amendment.
There is no America as you know it.
The left knows this.
That's exactly why they went after him.
Madison's own home – Montpelier in Virginia – was turned into what critics called a woke monument that labeled him primarily as "The Enslaver" rather than the Father of the Constitution.
The same ideological machine that pulled Jefferson off his pedestal in New York City Hall after nearly 190 years tried to reduce Madison to a footnote of his worst failures rather than the towering genius who built the architecture of your rights.
DeSantis Is Running the Opposite Playbook
That's not an accident.
DeSantis said it plainly during the Jefferson County unveiling last July: "While others are tearing statues of our founding fathers down, Florida is putting them up."
Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 called "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History" directing federal officials to reinstate monuments removed since January 2020.
DeSantis isn't waiting for a federal mandate.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2054976585741246724?s=20
He's doing it county by county, courthouse by courthouse, on Florida's dime.
Hamilton County still gets an Alexander Hamilton statue.
Monroe County gets James Monroe.
The program isn't finished.
The left spent five years telling your kids that the men who built this country were nothing but villains.
DeSantis is spending state money to make sure those kids grow up knowing the truth instead.
That's what winning looks like.
Sources:
- Skyler Shepard, "LIVE: Gov. DeSantis unveils James Madison statue at Madison County Courthouse," CBS12, May 14, 2026.
- "DeSantis: Central Florida getting America 250 statue at Bok Tower Gardens," Central Florida Public Media, January 19, 2026.
- "Statues of U.S. Founders will be placed throughout Florida for America's 250th birthday," WUSF, July 9, 2025.
- "Governor Ron DeSantis Unveils Thomas Jefferson Statue in Jefferson County," Executive Office of the Governor of Florida, July 2, 2025.
- "Florida Gov. DeSantis, Lt. Gov. Collins Unveil Benjamin Franklin Statue in Apalachicola," FOX 35 Orlando, September 17, 2025.
- "James Madison: Father of the Constitution," The Heritage Foundation.
- "Jefferson, Madison's homes become woke monuments attacking Founding Fathers' legacies," Fox News, July 22, 2022.
