With the buzz building that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is about to jump into the 2024 GOP primary field, it was reported that he sought to make his case to donors by telling them that there are only two candidates who can win the election and former President Donald J. Trump isn’t one of them.
In a New York Times scoop that should be viewed with a certain degree of skepticism considering that it was penned by Trump-hating activist Maggie Haberman, it was reported that on the Thursday call that was organized by a DeSantis-supporting super PAC, the Sunshine State Republican “all but declared his presidential candidacy” by telling the donors that there are only three “credible” candidates but that Trump is so toxic to large numbers of voters that he’s unelectable.
“You have basically three people at this point that are credible in this whole thing,” DeSantis reportedly said. “Biden, Trump and me. And I think of those three, two have a chance to get elected president — Biden and me, based on all the data in the swing states, which is not great for the former president and probably insurmountable because people aren’t going to change their view of him.”
He also reportedly said that “The corporate media wants Trump to be the nominee,” adding that he has been targeted with criticism from the other GOP candidates, journalists and “two presidents,” one of whom is obviously Trump who has spent months savaging DeSantis. On Thursday, he reacted to indications that his top rival would soon be entering the race.
“After campaigning for five months, and going nowhere but down, it looks like Ron DeSanctimonious will soon be entering the race. He has ZERO chance, and MAGA will never forget!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
(Image: Screengrab/Truth Social)
Recognized as the gold standard of America’s governors, DeSantis’ handling of the COVID crisis was exemplary as he refrained from crushing the freedoms of Floridians while his Democrat counterparts ruthlessly cracked down on their own citizens, as well as his uncompromising approach to the “woke” left, especially on parental rights with tough laws to get the groomers out of classrooms and homosexual porn out of school libraries along with the banning of the racist anti-white bigotry of Critical Race Theory. But there are some “potholes” in his policies that could derail his national aspirations, at least according to Fox Business anchor Dagen McDowell.
McDowell told Fox News host Sean Hannity that while DeSantis has been great in Florida, he has yet to articulate an economic policy, a major factor in the presidential race.
On Thursday’s edition of “Hannity,” she said “Ron DeSantis needs an economic plan if he’s gonna run for president. Ron DeSantis needs an energy plan if he’s gonna run for president. And he oughta be focusing on that.”
(Video: Fox News)
Hannity responded that parental rights is a matter of great importance to voters but McDowell pointed out that such policies are issues decided by the states and that the GOP nominee is going to have to make a case that he can address the suffering of Americans whose economic wellbeing has suffered greatly under Biden and the Democrats.
“Guess what,” she said. “Parents vote, but the schools are a state and local issue. And you know what people care about? Inflation, because people’s wages – adjusting for inflation – have gone down about 4% under Joe Biden. And Ron DeSantis does not have an economic plan as of yet.”
“And Disney just pulled a $1 billion investment out of Florida. And these are six-figure jobs, and he’s picked a fight with Disney,” she added, referring to the news that Disney had abandoned its plan to relocate 2,000 California workers to a new Florida complex, which was heavily hyped by the media and wielded against DeSantis by his GOP adversaries, but in actuality, was first reported last summer.
According to the New York Times, DeSantis told the donors about a conversation that he had with a voter during his recent trip to the key battleground state of Iowa.
“You know, Trump was somebody, we liked his policies but we didn’t like his values. And with you, we like your policies but also know that you share our values,” the voter said, according to DeSantis.
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