Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has thrown his hat into the ring to take on Donald Trump for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2024. It looks like whoever wins, we all lose.
Last week, Ron DeSantis announced what everyone in Washington knew: he’s running for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2024.
Our American ‘friends’ have a unique way of making this choice. Instead of having a party leader, the two main parties (Democrats and Republicans) have a series of ‘primaries’ where voters in each state choose who they want to be their candidate for the election. The Presidential poll takes place in November with primaries in the early part of the year.
Octogenarian Joe Biden is the current incumbent, and so all eyes are on the Republicans. The party of Lincoln has lost its mind in recent years, locked in a vice-like MAGA grip.
But could the alternative be worse? DeSantis shares many of Trump’s cruel and crude views, the only difference is he has a brain. While Trump is an insane narcissist, DeSantis is worryingly competent and may just have enough guile to follow through on his outlandish promises.
Florida is the culture war battleground of America, and DeSantis is its king. The Governor is proudly anti-abortion while also railing against COVID restrictions, enforcing minimal mask-wearing and social distancing while allowing businesses to stay open and live sports to continue.
This came at a significant human cost, with the state having the highest death toll in the country.
DeSantis is also the architect of the highly controversial ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill, which critics argue restricts healthy discussion of same-sex relationships in schools. In response to Disney’s threat to pull out of Florida as a result, he engaged in a bizarre and petty feud, threatening to sue them.
His campaign got off to a rocky start after a much-mocked ‘Twitter Space’ with divorced dad Elon Musk was plagued by technical issues.
DeSantis has also struggled to capture the hearts and minds of Americans with Paramount singer Hayley Williams telling an audience this week that anyone voting for him was “dead to me”.
Trump has already begun the war of words, branding his rival ‘Ron Desanctimonious’. This contest promises to be an intellectual battle for the heart and soul of the Grand Old Party.
Republicans have a choice: stick with the devil they know or take a leap out of the frying pan and into the Floridian fire.