First he declared war on Mickey Mouse, now the anti-gay Florida governor is running against Donald Trump

Gábor Horváth;

Donald Trump; Republican presidential candidates; Ron DeSantis;

2023-05-25 09:10:00

The scramble for the Republican presidential nomination has begun. Several people feel that they have something to earn, but only Ron DeSantis has a real chance. Also, it would be if it showed that he was happy to do it.

With a new competitor, the race for the Republican Party’s presidential candidate has now expanded to ten people, and if poor Elon Musk hadn’t been born in South Africa, that field would be eleven people. However, the current second richest man in the world is forced to accept the modest role of kingmaker due to the American constitution, as a former foreign citizen cannot become president. Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, announced his departure on Twitter on Wednesday evening – after technical problems that are no stranger to Elon Musk. According to the average of recent surveys, Donald Trump enjoys the support of 55 percent of Republican voters, beating his rival who debuted in second place by almost 34 percent, so there seems to be no cause for excitement. However, the situation is not so clear.

DeSantis is building his presidential campaign on the American “comeback”, and according to a poll published by CNN on Wednesday, 85 percent of conservative voters could support him, which is practically the same as Trump’s assessment (84 percent).

I’m running for president to lead our Great American Comeback. pic.twitter.com/YmkWkLaVDg

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) May 24, 2023

It’s no wonder that the former president greeted him with a scathing TV commercial, reminding viewers that only he would be able to start cleaning up Washington from day one. “The collar is too big for him,” he added on his own Twitter imitation, Truth Social. President Joe Biden didn’t stop, he joked on Twitter: “This link works!” – he wrote, directing his supporters to the donation page of his own campaign.

This link works: https://t.co/9PzIJkseYI

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 24, 2023

DeSantis is best known in the United States and the world for declaring war on Mickey Mouse. What initially seemed crazy gained new meaning afterwards: the governor’s speech against gay rights and his attack on Disney, the Goliath of the entertainment industry employing 75,000 people in his state, sent the governor to Trump heights (depths) in the blink of an eye. In much of the American press, “don’t say he’s gay!” Florida’s law prohibits schools from providing information about LGBTQ issues. This and the new regulation prohibiting abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy made the governor, who is only 44 years old, a real star in the eyes of Republican voters, whose popularity rivaled that of Trump at the end of winter. Since then, however, it has fallen sharply after the former president mercilessly impeached it.

His campaign, which began well before the announcement, revealed that DeSantis is nowhere near as entertaining as Trump, lacking in political charisma and incapable of spontaneous communication. This is what the British conservatives who had the opportunity to listen to in London also came to this conclusion. Several people left the room saying that DeSantison seemed to lack interest, that he wanted to finish the mandatory task as soon as possible.

Nevertheless, it is easy for him to be the runner-up, at least if Trump, who will soon enter his 77th year, is struck by a legal, net political heaven stone. It is still too early to speculate on what chances any of them would have against the 81-year-old Joe Biden or another Democratic Party candidate in November 2024. In any case, it now looks very likely that either Trump or DeSantis’ name will be on the ballot. In theory, it could be both, but it is unlikely that either of them would be up to the role of second fiddle.

They are followed far behind by ex-UN ambassador Nikki Haley and the ex-president’s estranged vice president, Mike Pence, with only 6 percent each. The former can mostly hope for the vice-presidential candidacy, and the latter for a miracle, if that certain heavenly stone hits DeSantis in addition to Trump. But maybe not because some Republican voters still haven’t forgiven him for not refusing to tally the election results on January 6, 2021 – 45 percent of them now say they would never vote for him. In the summer, there will already be televised debates, in which Trump, playing the safety game, does not want to participate for the time being. State primaries begin in February, and the presidential nominating convention will be held in Milwaukee next July. The date of the presidential election is November 5, 2024.