The comparisons with Trump are not without reason. Unlike more centrist candidates like former US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley, DeSantis is not just a primary rival for the former president, but a contender for votes from the far-right electorate, who in recent years has become a mainstay of Trump. with its slogan of making America great again. .Make America Great Again, MAGA). DeSantis even kicked off his campaign with a similar tagline, saying he wants to spearhead “America’s Great Comeback.” Like all MAGA Republicans, DeSantis is pushing the federal government to focus more on domestic issues than foreign policy. In America’s culture war, Florida’s governor has earned a reputation for taking conservative approaches to the country’s sensitive issues of gay rights and racism. For example, at his suggestion, the state passed a law prohibiting schools from discussing LGBT topics in classrooms up to a certain age of students. Liberal activists called the law “Don’t Say Gay”. In his address to Americans, DeSantis called illegal migrants, rising crime rates and low American incomes major problems for the United States. For all of this, he is seen as the young Trump “in a more palatable package”, indicating that he carries the same values, but does so without the excess of the 76-year-old Trump.
Trump himself had previously urged DeSantis not to run in the election so as not to split the party, but he reacted relatively civilly to the contestant’s decision, though he still couldn’t resist the stings. Trump praised him for his social truth, wishing him “the full experience of being attacked by Marxists, communists and radical leftists” during the campaign. At the same time, in his usual style, the ex-president has already invented a mocking nickname for his opponent: he has distorted his surname into “Ron Desanktimonius”, which can be translated as “Ron the hypocrite”. These attacks indicate that Trump is taking the competitor seriously.
The start of the DeSantis campaign, however, without Trump’s jokes, came out crumpled. The governor of Florida chose the social network Twitter as a platform, and its owner, Elon Musk, was the organizer of the event. The choice is not accidental — like MAGA-Republicans, Musk has regularly criticized Democrats in recent years for imposing liberal internet censorship. But during the broadcast, due to the influx of people, serious technical problems arose, because of which it was interrupted, which the American media almost emphasized.
You can go on for a long time about DeSantis’ opinions and policies, but his result is more important. And it is that DeSantis actually took Florida out of the electoral equation in the United States, although for decades it was considered one of the main swing states. It is the name of the regions in which the number of supporters of the two main parties is approximately the same, so that victory in these regions brings a decisive advantage in the American presidential election. But under DeSantis, Florida’s leaning toward the Republican Party is becoming increasingly evident. In the 2018 election he beat his rival by a narrow 0.4% margin, but in last year’s re-election DeSantis literally crushed the Democratic nominee by a margin of around 20%, even winning in Miami-Dade County, which is the last two dozen have voted Democrats for years.
So far, 54% of GOP voters are more sympathetic to Trump and 24% to DeSantis, according to a recent Fox News poll. The popularity of other Republican candidates is an order of magnitude lower. But these figures are more a promise of interesting primaries than a definitive alignment. A lot can change before the election, especially since Trump’s opponents keep trying to knock him out of the presidential race with numerous investigations.
At the same time, DeSantis’ possible victory in the Republican primaries may greatly mix the cards for Biden. And in the 2020 election, and now, perhaps the main argument of the camp of his allies is that he is the only one in the Democratic Party who can defeat Trump. Everything is clear here – two politicians of the last generation, roughly equal in age, whom Democrats say Biden seems more balanced and predictable against the backdrop of the eccentric Trump.
But in a possible duel with DeSantis, those Biden “virtues” may well turn out to be disadvantages – an elderly, boring and unpopular US president (his rating fluctuates around 40%) against a young and gaining in authority governor of the one of the key states with new ideas. And the very fact of compelling Republican primaries against a backdrop of a lull among the Democrats may spur Americans to change, as voters have long demanded a rejuvenation of the political elite in the United States, judging by the opinion polls.
Help “RG”
Ronald DeSantis is from Jasonville, Florida. The son, as they say, is a simple hard worker of Italian origin – his father worked as a technical specialist, and his mother worked as a nurse. Graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School. He served in the United States Navy for six years (2004-2010), notably at the Guantanamo base in Cuba, as well as in Iraq as a lawyer under the command of a special forces unit. In 2012, 34-year-old DeSantis was elected from the state of Florida to the House of Representatives, and six years later became governor of the state. Catholic, married to a former television presenter with whom he has three children.
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