Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
“Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suffered a chaotic start to his 2024 presidential election race on Wednesday when glitches marred an online forum hosted by Twitter owner Elon Musk… DeSantis' entrance in the Republican contest sets up a showdown with his one-time ally, former President Donald Trump.” Reuters
The right praises DeSantis.
“The political promise of the DeSantis campaign is that he can potentially pry MAGA voters away from Trump while still appealing to traditional Republicans… There are two main things that have made DeSantis distinctive. First, his response to Covid. He had the independent-mindedness and backbone to forge a different, better path that avoided the excesses of the lockdowns and mandates…
“Second, his zest for fighting back in the culture war and using his control of the government as an instrument. The restrictions on gender ideology and CRT in public schools are appropriate and his reforms of higher education, as a general matter, welcome and overdue… The just-concluded Florida legislative session added to the historic raft of legislation the last couple of years that would have thrilled conservatives any time over the last several decades: a heartbeat bill, constitutional carry, school choice, tort reform, E-Verify, tax relief, pushback on ESG, and on and on.”
The Editors, National Review
“Mr. DeSantis’s record is undeniably conservative, and some critics fear it may be too far right to win a national election… But Mr. DeSantis won re-election in 2020 by 19 points in a state that has traditionally been a nail-biter. He won Hispanic counties and others that traditionally vote Democratic. Mr. Trump hasn’t won anything for himself or the rest of his party since his inside electoral straight in 2016.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
“DeSantis is the only candidate who grasps that, to beat Trump, a candidate will need to meet the Republican electorate where it is. That means three things. First, prove that you’re willing and able to wage culture war more effectively than Trump is. Second, convince voters that they stand a meaningfully better chance of defeating the Democrats with you as their nominee than with him. Third, make the case that on issues ranging from lockdowns to immigration to foreign policy, Trump’s presidency failed his populist fans.”
Nick Catoggio, The Dispatch
“DeSantis demanded so much attention that he broke Twitter for about 20 minutes before he and Elon Musk were able to continue their Twitter Spaces conversation. I’m being assured that means the Florida man’s launch was a total disaster, effectively ending his campaign before it starts. Joe Biden even had his handlers fire off a silly tweet about his donation link working. Of course, he won’t have over 760,000 trying to click on it at once…
“DeSantis lit the political world on fire tonight, finishing his conversation with Musk only to secure what seemed an awful lot like a quasi-endorsement from conservative hall-of-famer Mark Levin. He then went over to Fox News where he shared his vision for the nation and what his top-three priorities would be. In short, how can a launch be a disaster if the entire political world is talking about it? If the goal was to garner attention, and that’s always the goal of a campaign launch, then it was mission accomplished and then some.”
Bonchie, RedState
The left criticizes DeSantis.
The left criticizes DeSantis.
“Ron DeSantis has done a lot in Florida – and a lot of it should scare voters… Disney, one of Florida’s largest employers and tourist magnets, voiced gentle disagreement with the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, prompting DeSantis to launch a crusade against the company, dubbing it ‘woke.’ Disney has now sued the governor for ‘a targeted campaign of government retaliation,’ and recently pulled out of a planned $1 billion development near Orlando that would’ve brought 2,000 high-paying jobs to the state…
“DeSantis has also: rounded up migrants in Texas and flown them to Massachusetts' Martha’s Vineyard at Florida taxpayers’ expense in one of the more cruel anti-immigrant stunts ever concocted… signed a six-week abortion ban; and signed a law allowing people to carry a concealed gun without training or a permit… According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Florida ranks near the bottom in terms of uninsured residents, with 12.1% of Floridians uncovered. Only four states are worse.”
Rex Huppke, USA Today
“For DeSantis to have ever had a real chance, he needed to come out of the gates swinging directly at Trump. Pulling no punches, not holding back, an offensive blitz that would’ve put Donald on his a** for the first time in a Republican primary fight. Instead, DeSantis made the idiotic calculation that his most alpha-male persona would be better spent fighting an animated mouse than his chief rival for the prize he so desperately wants…
“DeSantis regurgitated the laundry list of imaginary grievances that have become the hallmark of today’s Republican Party and while the GOP primary electorate might agree with every word he said, the reality is it is already getting that act from Trump. DeSantis just comes off as a cheap knockoff.”
Kurt Bardella, Los Angeles Times
Others argue, “There are also reasons for hope for DeSantis. One is that Trump’s true-believer base isn’t as big as it once was. Even with Trump rising, only about half of Republicans have a ‘strongly’ favorable view of him, and nearly half of Republicans have said he shouldn’t run…
“There’s also the fact that the limited early-state polling we have suggests DeSantis does better in states like Iowa and New Hampshire. We don’t really know if that’s still the case, but DeSantis appears as though he’ll lean heavily on Iowa…
“Another reason for hope is that there are still plenty of x-factors looming over Trump. His indictment in Manhattan seems only to have helped him, and a recent civil verdict finding him liable for sexual abuse doesn’t appear to have moved the needle on the right. But what if he’s indicted for something more serious, like withholding classified documents? And what if these things begin to bring the actual electability gap between him and DeSantis into more stark relief? In some ways, DeSantis seems to be getting into the race as the just-in-case candidate. And that’s not a terrible place to be.”
Aaron Blake, Washington Post
