He has a chance in the primaries, by going to the right of The Donald and really connecting with the core with the "own the libs" game-plan that the right seems to get such joy from, doubling down on all the key-phrases and talking points that get the core of the right excited. He really "sticks to the script" of conservative talking points in a way that I think The Donald doesn't which I think will help in primaries. Also the same reason why I can't see him winning in a general - everything for him is "us vs them" and he will need a significant number of people he would classify as "them" to vote for him in a general election - but perhaps I'm wrong. I'm sure his supporters think I am. I'm honestly not sure whether 2024 Trump or Meatball Ron would be a better candidate for the Republicans. I would say neither quite matches the promise of 2016 Trump, who had his "winning personality" that seemed to connect with a bunch of people, and no actual public office track record to weigh that down.
Why can't both of those things be true? Because I don't live in FL, I'm not up on actual things he's gotten done outside of the nonsense culture war crap. Honest question...outside of all of the anti-woke, LGBTQ+, black people, [insert culture war item here] things he's done, what has he done?
DeSantis’ was waiting for the FL legislature to finish its session. This also was deliberate to show him getting a lot of legislation passed. His strategy appears to be to contrast himself as someone who can get things done for Conservatives while Trump blusters.
Sounds like the campaign launch on Twitter was a disaster. Tons of technical glitches causing them to have to restart it, DeSantis at one point dropped off for several minutes, and people not knowing when their mic was still on. I read that it "had all the energy of a Zoom call." It also seemed like it was meant to be an advertisement for Twitter Spaces, but due to the technical glitches that was a flop too. Not a great start.
DeSantis has actually gotten a lot done. Most of it is the culture war stuff but he’s also addressed natural disasters including Hurricane Ian and the Surfside Condo collapse. In both those cases he showed very little ideology and worked closely with the Biden Admin. One of the more interesting things DeSantis has done is address environmental issues increasing coastal and protection of the Everglades. He’s also opposed offshore drilling in Florida. While he’s a public skeptic of Climate Change he’s taken steps to deal with it. https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2023/0127/On-environment-DeSantis-charts-a-pragmatic-path On COVID he’s been on both sides of the issue. He early on did have things like lockdown and mandates. He later flipped and opposed those things. Trump has criticized him regarding his early actions. This is why I’ve felt DeSantis is very similar to Nixon. Nixon also was a culture warrior who took on the counterculture of the 60’s. He also was known for being socially awkward and not personable. He also was very spiteful. At the same time though he could be pragmatic and when it came to the environment he started the EPA and did seem to have an actual concern for it.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/ron-de...nald-trump-florida-90b2c2e4?mod=hp_opin_pos_1 The Ron DeSantis Challenge The Florida Governor has a strong record. Can he offer voters a larger national vision? By The Editorial Board May 24, 2023 at 6:41 pm ET The unfortunate political reality today is that the U.S. is marching toward a 2024 rematch between two aging Presidents, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, that most Americans say they don’t want. This great country can do better, but it’s up to voters to spare us from the divisive oldsters who desperately need each other to win a second term. At least for now, the Democratic Party is defaulting to 80-year-old President Biden. But even most Democrats prefer a new nominee, and nearly 30% are making that point by telling pollsters they support the vanity candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Marianne Williamson. It’s not far-fetched that Mr. Biden will decide not to run, or that some serious candidate might challenge the President if there’s a deep recession, or he shows even more noticeable physical or mental decline. *** Republicans are at least getting a better choice as a variety of candidates enter the presidential race. They all have their merits and deserve a hearing as the campaign unfolds. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joined the fray on Wednesday and, judging by the polls and his financial backing to date, he is the biggest threat to Mr. Trump. The 44-year-old has an impressive resume: son of middle-class parents, Yale baseball captain, Harvard law school, Navy veteran including a tour in Iraq, and a three-term Member of Congress. But he has made his mark politically with his record as the two-term Governor of booming Florida. His legislative record is as impressive as you’ll find, including near-universal school choice, $3.3 billion for Everglades restoration, tort and insurance reform, paycheck protection for workers in public unions, tax cuts, insisting on free speech in higher education and resisting woke ideology. His greatest achievement was his handling of the pandemic. After the initial panic and shutdowns driven by President Trump and Anthony Fauci in Washington, Mr. DeSantis did his own homework on Covid health risks and the costs of economic and school lockdowns. This wasn’t easy given media conformity and the public mood at the time. New York’s Andrew Cuomo was hailed as a national hero for his onerous lockdowns and fighting with Mr. Trump. Mr. DeSantis decided to reopen the schools in 2020 and had to fight lawsuits to do so. He was among the first governors to reopen his state’s economy, and Florida became a mecca for tens of thousands who wanted a refuge from lockdown isolation. For breaking from Covid orthodoxy, he was maligned in the press as the “angel of death.” This is a sharp contrast with Mr. Trump, who indulged the lockdown lobby for months, kept Dr. Fauci on the job through the end of his term, and shot from the lip on treatments and other controversies that undermined public confidence. This gave Mr. Biden the opening to defeat him in 2020. The acid test of leadership is how someone responds in a crisis, and Mr. DeSantis showed both the discipline to master the subject and the courage to defy elite opinion for the larger public good. Mr. DeSantis’s record is undeniably conservative, and some critics fear it may be too far right to win a national election. Mr. Trump seems to think so as he is attacking the Governor from the left on Social Security, abortion for Florida’s six-week ban, and the fight over Disney’s special Florida privileges. 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. A more serious concern for many is Mr. DeSantis’s fence-straddling on Ukraine and Russia. He indulged a former Fox News host by calling the war a “territorial dispute,” though he later said the phrase was misunderstood. But Mr. DeSantis hasn’t clarified his larger foreign-policy views, and the worry is that he will make the mistake of chasing Mr. Trump in retreating from U.S. global commitments. Mr. DeSantis will need to explain how he defines being a foreign policy “Jacksonian” in an increasingly dangerous world. *** The other rap against Mr. DeSantis is that he’s a cultural brawler more than a likable unifier. There’s truth to this. He’s no backslapper, and he’d benefit from even a little of Ronald Reagan’s self-deprecating humor. The best candidates for President campaign with some poetry and optimism as well as policy grit and personal toughness. The Governor will also need a larger vision for America beyond his Florida success—not least how he’d lift the economy out of stagflation and the country out of its angry divisions. Mr. Biden promised to do the latter but has made his Presidency hostage to the Bernie Sanders left. Mr. Trump is promising a politics of “retribution,” which means four more years of national trench warfare. Mr. Biden’s failures mean there’s an opportunity for Republicans to offer voters a better vision of national renewal. The country needs it, Americans want it, and the opening is there if a GOP candidate can seize the moment. Appeared in the May 25, 2023, print edition as 'The DeSantis Challenge'.
I think DeSantis is great, but unfortunately there's an entertainment element to running for President, and he needs to improve this aspect. It requires a strategy around marketing, media-relations, communications... and while DeSantis is an amazing executive who was done some fantastic things for Florida, he currently falls short in the media/communications game. It's a pity that this matters, but it does. Obviously Biden is the world's worst at these things, but he's got the full force of the media and DC establishment protecting him... whereas DeSantis will have the media and DC establishment attacking him. Would DeSantis be a great President? Absolutely. The question is whether he can adapt to the media game to give him the chance to get there.
My guess is he was caught flat-footed in November and was not prepared or expecting to run in 2024... But then Trump **** the bed and DeSantis had a historic night, but he wasn't ready to capitalize on it.
DeSantis has a strong record of crappy education in his state, authoritarian freedom restricting moves, and those are going the wrong way. He had an embarrassment of a campaign launch. Yet, despite all of that he could still win. That's a sad state of affairs.
He issued an executive order (EO) aimed at safeguarding sustainable growth in Florida. He subsequently signed a law siding with developers (wealthy donors), granting them protection from citizen lawsuits. DeSantis just signed "Sprawl Bill" 540 into law - Friends of the Everglades This afternoon, Gov. DeSantis signed into law the worst environmental bill passed by the Florida Legislature during the 2023 session. Senate Bill 540, which will take effect July 1, is a death knell for smart growth in Florida. It will effectively end citizen challenges to comprehensive plan amendments by sadling those who challenge an amendment and lose with the other side’s legal fees — including developers’ attorney fees if they join the case. Signing SB 540 into law defies the spirit of DeSantis’ own Executive Order 23-06, which called for protecting the long-term planning process that safeguards sustainable growth in Florida. And it will embolden developers to propose more environmentally perilous projects. Friends of the Everglades did not stand alone in our stringent opposition to SB 540. Allied organizations including Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation, 1000 Friends of Florida, the Hold the Line Coalition, Hold the Line Coalition and the Everglades Coalition — representing more than 60 member organizations — also issued veto requests, citing concerns for Everglades restoration efforts and the future of smart growth in Florida. More than 3,000 Friends of the Everglades supporters joined us in sending letters to the Governor requesting that he stand with the rights of his constituents by protecting the key role engaged citizens play in the oversight process to ensure responsible growth. This bill now makes it almost impossible for citizens to bring legal challenges against environmentally dangerous projects, such as the South Dade Logistics and Technology District that we fought in Miami-Dade County. This denial of public participation by way of excessive financial barriers will have far-reaching implications for water and the Everglades and is a disappointing step backwards for Florida.
That piece does state DeSantis is contradicting his own previous EO. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s done that.
