2023-05-24 23:34:55
The Governor of FloridaRon DeSantis, presented this Wednesday his candidacy for the Republican inauguration facing the 2024 United States presidential elections. DeSantis, 44, formalized the candidacy in a document delivered to the federal electoral commission hours before the media launch of his campaign through a chat with Elon Musk on Twitter.
The candidacy of the 44-year-old governor It raises hope for Republicans seeking an alternative to former President Donald Trump, whose ideas he shares but not the excesses.
DeSantis is emerging as the 76-year-old Trump’s biggest rival for the Republican inauguration. The winner of those primaries will face the candidate chosen by the Democratic Party in November 2024, most likely President Joe Biden.
a conservative figure
There is something “Nixonian” in DeSantis, the Republican analyst and journalist told the EFE news agency Alfonso Aguilarwho points out that the president Richard Nixon (1969-1974), who had to resign due to an illegal wiretapping scandal, “did not like to talk to people.”
Trump, who proved in the 2016 campaign against “crooked (crooked) Hillary” Clinton that smearing rivals pays off, has given DeSantis the nickname “DeSanctimonius,” a pun on the Florida governor’s last name and the English word for “prude.” Before he became a rival for the primaries, he called him the “conservative warrior.” Both qualifiers fit him well.
DeSantis presents himself as a religious man and lover of his wife Casey and their three children and has not given rise to scandals in his private life, something Trump cannot boast of. He is Catholic, his wedding in the Disney parks was officiated by a priest of that religion, but he is very close to the Protestants and whenever he can he recites verses from the Bible.
He proves to be ruthless with those who don’t think like him or oppose his policies. “Cruel” is one of the adjectives that his detractors tend to address him most frequently. The current governor of Florida, who unquestionably won re-election last November, is credited with being the person most responsible for the fact that this state in the southeastern United States has embraced the color red, that of the Republican Party, after having formed part of states without a fixed voting pattern.
Radical with the Covid 19
If in his first term he was characterized by his stance against business closures, confinements and vaccination certificates against covid-19, in this second he has engaged in a war against progressive postulates (woke) , a term that grew out of the fight against racial injustice, by recasting the state’s legal framework to make it ultra-conservative.
The merciless fight against illegal immigration is one of its workhorses ahead of the primaries, despite warnings that it negatively affects the state’s economy.
Before announcing your candidacythe state Congress, with an overwhelming Republican majority, approved laws suggested in some cases by him, such as the prohibition of abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, the elimination of racial diversity programs in public universities or the prohibition of dealing with issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation in schoolsto name a few.
One of those laws, the one known as “Don’t Say Gay” pitted him against the entertainment giant Disney, that, after publicly criticizing it, he ended up deprived of the self-government he exercised for more than half a century in his parks in Florida and began a legal battle against DeSantis, who is a “cum laude” graduate of Harvard and Yale universities.
before governor He was a member of the Navy, a legal adviser to the special forces in Iraq and a prosecutor at the Guantánamo prison for accused of terrorism.
In 2018, DeSantis, an almost unknown congressman, won the gubernatorial election in surprising fashion after receiving decisive support from Trump from the White House. Since then He has become a rising star on the right in the United States with very conservative policies on issues such as education, abortion or immigration.
His ultra-conservative initiatives have brought him widespread media coverage and a triumphant re-election in November 2022. But the battle for the Republican nomination will reveal whether his new status in the party is enough to prevail over Trump. Numerous polls give the former president a wide advantage over the governoralthough those results must be taken with caution since the primaries are still months away.
The main difference between the two candidates resides, above all, in their attitudes. For many, DeSantis, the son of a working-class family, is seriously lacking in charisma in the face of the exuberant real estate mogul. His temper is less explosive than Trump’s and when he is uncomfortable or angry he shows it, but he controls his anger. He is also less likeable and connects less naturally with people than his rival. “DeSantis desperately needs a personality graft,” Trump taunted. this Wednesday morning.
“Announcing his candidacy on Twitter is perfect for DeSantis. That way he doesn’t have to interact with anyone,” ironized one of Trump’s advisers in a conversation with AFP.
“Personality Graft”
Hostilities between them began long before DeSantis entered the ring. Trump has spent weeks multiplying criticism of his rival on his social networks and in his campaign events, while DeSantis has counterattacked in his own, more subtle way, recalling what hurts the former president the most: his defeat in the last presidential elections against the Democrat Joe Biden.
A fierce fight awaits the governor of Florida against the New York billionaire, a man immune to scandals, whose legal troubles seem to further mobilize his many followers.
In his campaign, DeSantis will be able to count on generous donations — $110 million to date— with which he hopes to close the gap and flood the country with advertisements.
In a recent video from the governor’s political action committee, a man puts a “DeSantis for president” sticker on the body of a car, above one that reads “Trump 2016.” The ad summarizes the message that the governor wants to convey to the voters: in front of the 76-year-old magnate, DeSantis wants to embody the new guard of the Republican Party.
in his book “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival” (“The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Plan for America’s Renaissance”), published in February, revealed his “playbook” for a politician: “be willing to lead, have the courage of your convictions, stand by your voters and reap the political rewards.
The other declared candidates in the Republican race —Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson— rarely exceed five percent of voting intentions in the polls, for which reason everything points to a duel between the governor of Florida and the man who promoted it.
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