Ron DeSantis comes out firing in bid for presidency, but misses

MIAMI—“It’s not the way you begin, it’s the way you end.”

These are the phrases that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis should dwell by after the epic launch of his marketing campaign for the White Home in 2024.

Introduced on Twitter Areas, a newish and poorly identified a part of the social media platform, the launch was initially marred by an epic glitch that was nervously laughed off by hosts Elon Musk and pal David Sacks, a DeSantis donor, who steered that “we melted the web.”

Fifteen minutes later, when the bugs had been cleared, it descended into an epic rant crammed with right-wing grievances — about COVID-19, about “the woke mob,” about unlawful immigration and the evils of the normal media.

Billed as a “first within the historical past of social media,” it was true to Twitter type — a bitter, insular and partisan show. Much less an open dialog than a gaggle of like-minded individuals bellowing into each other’s echo chamber.

Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur who reportedly voted for President Joe Biden however has criticized pandemic well being restrictions and different progressive causes, was in his component as co-host.

His major curiosity gave the impression to be the promotion of his cash-strapped and oft-criticized firm. Whereas he did tout his personal contribution to the tradition wars and appeared typically beneficial to his visitor, he managed to hover simply above the partisan fray of the occasion, and prolonged an invite to any politician of any stripe who needed to observe in DeSantis’s shaky footsteps.

However for DeSantis, who had a significant probability to introduce himself to the nation and make a primary impression on the voters he might want to win, it appeared like a swing and a miss.

The baseball terminology is intentional.

Earlier than he was the good Republican hope for individuals who can’t fathom Donald Trump’s return, DeSantis was a blue-collar child with one thing of an all-American pedigree.

He performed within the Little League World Sequence as a boy, went on a baseball scholarship to Yale, then studied legislation at Harvard.

He served within the navy, hung out in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay. He married a former tv reporter at Disney World and the couple have three children.

However all this took a again seat Wednesday to DeSantis’s political persona as a tradition warrior —one who claimed to “know instinctively what regular individuals suppose” and dedicated to battling “the woke thoughts virus” run amok in the US.

A part of this rhetoric appears to be inescapable within the nation in the meanwhile.

America is funding and supplying the majority of Ukraine’s effort to fend of Russia’s invaders. Democrats and Republicans are locked in negotiations over the nation’s debt ceiling which, if not resolved, may ship the America and the world right into a monetary tailspin. It’s already in a match of geopolitical Chinese language checkers.

However main the information throughout this nation is Goal’s determination to tug some gadgets from its LGBTQ+ Satisfaction assortment of clothes from shops, in response to threats and criticism.

The retailer’s determination follows controversy a few Bud Gentle beer industrial that includes a transgender feminine influencer Dylan Mulvaney that sparked a boycott. Adidas could possibly be subsequent, with an advert for a Satisfaction swimsuit worn by a transgender mannequin drawing the ire of the American proper wing.

And DeSantis has been on the forefront of this battle in Florida, the place he has signed legal guidelines to stop transgender ladies from taking part in on feminine sports activities groups, to cease them from utilizing feminine washroom services or to ban the usage of most well-liked pronouns in colleges.

He has put restrictions on the educating of intercourse training and Black historical past.

On the identical time, he has eased gun legal guidelines and lowered the authorized threshold for sentencing criminals to demise.

It has been mentioned of DeSantis that he goals to “Make America Florida.”

It’s a hat-tip to the person DeSantis should wrest the Republican nomination from — fellow Floridian Trump — who has been promising to return the US to its fabled state of former glory since he was first elected in 2016.

DeSantis’s pitch to Republican voters who could be weighing him towards Trump is that he’s able to delivering the victory that eluded Trump in 2020.

Trump himself clings to the falsehood that the presidency was primarily based on fraudulent outcomes and thus stolen from him.

Whereas many different Republicans share that view, DeSantis clearly referred to as it as a loss — one thing that attracts a line within the Republican sand.

“There isn’t a substitute for victory. We should finish the tradition of dropping that has contaminated the Republican Celebration lately,” he mentioned.

“For those who nominate me, you may set your clock to January 5, 2025, at excessive midday as a result of, on the west facet of the U.S. Capitol, I will probably be taking the oath of workplace because the forty seventh president of the US. No excuses. I’ll get the job completed.”

However greater than merely successful, DeSantis is drawing on his report in Florida to point that he’s prepared — keen, even — to go a lot additional and sow extra division than even Trump might need envisaged on his wildest days within the White Home.

After months of taking part in coy about his presidential ambitions, of ducking the questions on his plans, DeSantis is lastly being crystal clear about what it’d imply to “Make America Florida.”

“While you attempt some new issues … It’s adventurous,” mentioned Musk.

He was referring to the malfunctioning of his on-line pulpit, however he may have simply been referring to DeSantis’s pitch to voters, who should now determine if what the Florida governor is providing is a promise or a risk.

Allan Woods is a Montreal-based employees reporter for the Star. He covers world and nationwide affairs. Observe him on Twitter: @WoodsAllan

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