DeSantis wins as Trump, would-be 2024 adversaries strike at Florida governor

While former President Donald Trump continues to come up with nicknames for his potential presidential challenger in 2024, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis still manages to stay on the sidelines, building his resume and anticipating more Republican-backed victories on issues such as like education, crime, etc. and immigration.

On Monday, DeSantis embarked on a pro-cop blue city tour, visiting areas of New York, Philadelphia and Chicago and meeting with sheriffs, police chiefs and other local law enforcement agencies who don’t feel supported by their local government, his political team. Fox News Digital reported.

While DeSantis has not announced his 2024 presidential run, he is often cited as the top contender to defeat Trump in the Republican primary. The governor is also releasing an autobiography on Feb. 28 called “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Plan for America’s Resurgence,” which is seen by political pundits as another sign he’s preparing an announcement.

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Trump recently stated on his Truth Social website that despite his frequent taunts and name-calling of DeSantis, he rarely thinks about the governor. “I don’t even think about it – a very unimportant topic for me!!!” he stated last week.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks announcing the Digital Bill of Rights proposal on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

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The former president targeted DeSantis days after Fox News exclusively reported details of DeSantis’ police tour on Sunday.

“Ron DeSanktimonius wants to cut your social security and medical care,” Trump tweeted Sunday night, “closed Florida and its beaches, loves RINOS Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush and Karl Rove (catastrophes for ALL!), supports the Globalists Club for NO.” “Growth”, “Pervert Lincoln Project” and “Uninspired” Koch – and it only gets worse. He is Rino in disguise!

The near-one-sided feud between Trump and DeSantis began in November, when the former president called him “Ron DeSanctimonius” just three days before the midterms. When Election Day arrived, the Wall Street Journal ran Trump’s comments threatening to release dirt on DeSantis if the governor decided to run for president.

“If he really ran, I will tell you not very flattering things about him,” Trump said. “I know more about him than anyone, except perhaps his wife, who actually runs his campaign.”

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at the South Carolina State House on January 28, 2023 in Columbia, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)

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Trump’s attacks on DeSantis so close to the election were widely condemned by conservatives, and while the Republicans continued to fall behind nationally, losing the U.S. Senate and regaining the House of Representatives by only a handful of seats, DeSantis won a historic 19-point victory. in Florida, a former battlefield.

The day after the election, the former president again lashed out at DeSantis, writing, “Now that the Florida election is over and everything went well enough, shouldn’t it be said that I got 1.1 million more votes in Florida in 2020?” than Ron Dee this year, from 5.7 million to 4.6 million? Are you just asking?”

Trump later launched a 400-word tirade against DeSantis, calling the governor “average” and lacking “class” and “loyalty.” He criticized DeSantis for issuing the lockdown order in Florida, saying the governor “shouldn’t have shut down his state, but he did, unlike other Republican governors” and he praised himself for DeSantis’ victory in office. governor in 2018 over disgraced Democrat Andrew Gillum.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at the South Carolina State House on January 28, 2023 in Columbia, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)

Trump’s criticism of DeSantis for locking down the state is highly idiosyncratic. DeSantis did not issue his first and only state stay-at-home order until April 1, 2020, more than two weeks after Trump, as president, announced his “15 days to slow the spread” plan, which recommended that governors close schools, restaurants and other public places.

Although DeSantis, like most governors across the country, followed the lead and briefly closed the state, he was one of the first to reopen the state, sparking a wave of Democratic backlash that continues today. The governor has since vowed that the state will never be on lockdown again, and that one of his biggest regrets was that he did not go against the Trump administration’s recommendations, which he primarily blamed on Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House response chief. on COVID-19. .

However, Trump, who officially announced his 2024 presidential race on November 15, a week after the midterm elections, has repeatedly criticized DeSantis’ response to the pandemic on Truth Social in recent weeks.

The governor would win a hypothetical head-to-head matchup against Trump by a 53% to 40% margin, according to a new Monmouth University poll, and is favored over Trump by nearly every major voting bloc in the party except for those earning less than $50,000 a year and the people aged 65 years and over. Other polls, however, have shown Trump leading DeSantis.

Former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley, the only other Republican to officially announce his 2024 presidential race besides Trump, fired his first shot at DeSantis last week, saying his controversial parental rights law didn’t go enough. far.

“There was all this talk about the Florida bill – the Don’t Talk About Gay bill. Basically, it said you shouldn’t talk about gender until third grade. I’m really sorry. I don’t think that’s enough,” Haley told supporters in New Hampshire. “When I was in school, you didn’t have sex education until 7th grade. And even then, your parents had to sign if you could attend classes.”

Nikki Haley, former Ambassador to the United Nations, during an event in Charleston, South Carolina, USA on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 (Photographer: Sam Wolfe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks to supporters during her speech on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, in Charleston, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Mick Smith)

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Another potential 2024 Republican presidential nominee, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, on Sunday called DeSantis’ education initiatives “big government” and even “authoritarian.”

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, another potential candidate, has also shot at DeSantis in recent weeks.

“I am recognized as the most financially conservative governor in the country,” he told Politico this month. “I am #1 in personal freedoms. Sorry Ron, you’re #2.”

DeSantis has largely refrained from taking any direct shots at Trump or others, but he said he considered the criticism “positive feedback” during an appearance on Fox & Friends on Monday morning.

“If you are an official and you just sit and put your fingers together and do nothing, nobody ever says anything,” the governor said. “You can just hide from the radar. But when you lead, when you set the agenda, not just for Florida, but for the nation, which we’ve done over the past few years, people see it. And people who don’t necessarily like it will react accordingly. But I can just tell you, if people don’t shoot me, then I’m not doing my job.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks announcing the Digital Bill of Rights proposal on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

The Governor travels to blue leader cities to promote his efforts to support law enforcement and reduce crime in Florida, where he recently proposed legislation to tighten bail laws, tougher penalties for sex offenders and other crime-fighting measures.

Last year, DeSantis implemented the largest law enforcement recruitment in state history by providing $5,000 signing bonuses to officers looking to relocate to Florida from blue states, according to the governor’s office.

Speaking in Staten Island on Monday morning, DeSantis told Fox & Friends that the “wake up” approach to law enforcement and crime has failed.

“All of this puts ideology ahead of public safety,” he said. “This has caused many people to leave these previously prosperous areas.”

The Governor has already signed several bills in his second term that are popular with Republicans, including giving the state’s attorney more powers to deal with voter fraud cases and repealing and replacing the state’s controversial migrant resettlement program that smuggles illegal immigrants from condition.

Last week, DeSantis proposed his “Digital Bill of Rights” that would ban TikTok on government devices and prohibit any Florida state or local government employee from coordinating with a Big Tech company to censor free speech.

Last month, the governor announced his “Teachers’ Bill of Rights,” which provides for a $1 billion pay raise for teachers but also limits the power of teacher unions in the state. It came nearly a year after he signed his parental rights in education bill, dubbed by Democrats as the Don’t Say Gay Bill, which banned teachers from instructing in the classroom on “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” in kindergarten. third class.

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DeSantis told Fox News on Monday that “this is going to be the most productive legislative session we’ve ever had.”

“I think people look at Florida and think, ‘Dude, the governor has done a lot,’ and we did and we’re proud of it. You haven’t seen anything yet,” he said.