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Ron DeSantis suspends presidential campaign, endorses Donald Trump
Florida Politics ^ | January 21, 2024 | A.G. Gancarski

Posted on 01/21/2024 12:39:15 PM PST by conservative98

The Governor is backing the former President after all.

Ron DeSantis is out of the presidential race and is endorsing Donald Trump.

In a video released Sunday, the Republican candidate suspended his campaign, after a distant second place finish in Iowa, an expected even more distant third place in the Granite State, and an uncertain path for delegates ahead.

“Now, following our second place finish in Iowa, we’ve prayed and deliberated on the way forward. If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, I would do it. But I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don’t have a clear path to victory accordingly. I am today suspending my campaign.”

The Governor’s exit makes the GOP contest a two-person race between Nikki Haley and Trump, who DeSantis endorsed without reservation.

“Now, it’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance and they see Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him.”

“While I’ve had disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current incumbent Joe Biden,” DeSantis said.

“I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honor that pledge. He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican Guard of yesteryear: A repackaged form of warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents. The days of putting Americans last of kowtowing to large corporations of caving to woke ideology are over.”

DeSantis’ effective exit from the race comes after a cycle that launched with great hype that went underfulfilled.

The Florida Governor’s glitch-filled kickoff on Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk, an alternative to a more conventional launch at a baseball field in DeSantis’ hometown of Dunedin, was a metaphor for a campaign that arrayed more than $82 million of seed money transferred to his super PAC from his former state PAC, an effort that promised a 50-state strategy to clear the field, but did not count on the enduring popularity of the former President.

The Governor embarked on a strategy to get endorsements from state legislators in early states, such as Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, and visited many of these places, finding connections between their conservative governance and that enjoyed in Florida. But despite heavy spending and lots of travel, he didn’t get traction in polls.

He expressed regrets in recent weeks, suggesting that Trump’s legal issues derailed the race, and saying recently he should have done more “corporate media.”

There will be plenty of time for him to figure out what went wrong, but for now, the Governor will return to the job he was elected to perform.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Florida; US: New Hampshire
KEYWORDS: congratsjoebiden; congratswhinytrolls; desantis; magadeathcult; magatdscult; nowbackeddown; overanddone; thirdtime; trump
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To: CaptainK
Now it's time for Nikki

She's a TDS RINO and with her RINO supporters will do all they can to subvert President Trump's presidential run.

21 posted on 01/21/2024 1:06:34 PM PST by vetvetdoug
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To: conservative98

I can now see Nimrata furiously trying to cajole Trump into debating her to give her a lifeline to legitimacy.


22 posted on 01/21/2024 1:07:08 PM PST by odawg
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To: ksm1
Does this mean that Trump is deep state since he just got endorsed by Meatball DeSoros?

I wouldn't exactly call it an endorsement. It was a weak attempt to resuscitate his career.

23 posted on 01/21/2024 1:07:25 PM PST by JonPreston ( ✌ ☮️ )
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To: ksm1

It means DeSantis is doing the thing that best benefits his political future. The Bush/UniParty money has already been moved to Bird Brain.


24 posted on 01/21/2024 1:07:31 PM PST by MTBobcat (The “rank-and-file” are as corrupted as their leadership.)
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To: Drew68

They used DeSantis as a pawn.


25 posted on 01/21/2024 1:09:09 PM PST by Fresh Wind (Nothing says "democracy" like trying to throw your opponent in jail.)
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To: conservative98

Other than personal ambition, he had no real rationale for running. Most of his positions seemed to be similar to Trump’s, with a few made more extreme.

New Coke didn’t succeed either.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke


26 posted on 01/21/2024 1:09:33 PM PST by FarCenter
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To: Luke21

“Nimmy”

Excellent lampoon!


27 posted on 01/21/2024 1:12:33 PM PST by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: DoughtyOne

Such an attitude is actually bad for America. Governor de Santis is an exceptional governor of a populous red state. He is a genuine conservative, and he is Republican. I think of him as the Republican conservative bench. He’ll be called to the field when necessary.

The future of conservatism is with no doubt what so ever in the Republican Party

Hoping and wanting and wishing for the political death of Governor De Santis is seriously detrimental to the conservative cause.

Absent De Santis, the Trump re election is but a negative blip on the progressive growth curve.

We don’t want America to be California where conservatives are perpetually powerless and must sit on the sidelines accomplishing nothing against to resist he Progressive tide.


28 posted on 01/21/2024 1:12:45 PM PST by bert ( (KWE. NP. N.C. +12) Hamasci de is required in totalhe)
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To: conservative98

This should have been arranged before the campaign even started. DeSantis would’ve been the VP nominee and would have been ideally positioned to run for president in 2028. All water under the bridge, of course, but now both of them have to deal with all of the criticism that went back-and-forth between them.


29 posted on 01/21/2024 1:12:55 PM PST by Ancesthntr (“The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.” ― A.E. Van Vogt, The Weapons Shops of Isher)
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To: conservative98

Rob backed down.


30 posted on 01/21/2024 1:14:37 PM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: CaptainK

It’s time for a WEF Military Industrial Complex prostitute and a good old fashioned run of the mill slut. Go Nikki!


31 posted on 01/21/2024 1:16:42 PM PST by SACK UP
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To: bert

-1> He is a genuine conservative

RINO “conservative of the bush, Ryan branch.


32 posted on 01/21/2024 1:16:44 PM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: conservative98

He could barely force out his crummy endorsement. Thank God he’s gone!


33 posted on 01/21/2024 1:19:18 PM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Ancesthntr

DeSantis would have been foolish to accept a VP slot. The best VPs tend to be low-key political figures who don’t make good presidential candidates. The worst VPs are dopey losers who make awful presidential candidates.


34 posted on 01/21/2024 1:20:08 PM PST by Alberta's Child (If something in government doesn’t make sense, you can be sure it makes dollars.)
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To: drop 50 and fire for effect

What do you hope he reboots? Being a terrible choice? He should never get near the presidency.


35 posted on 01/21/2024 1:21:19 PM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: conservative98
Well, I did not expect that move.

But good for DeSantis. Maybe he has a chance to redeem himself.

Let's see him go back to Florida and apply hammer-and-tongs to the Democrats there. If he is effective at that, maybe he still has prospects for 2028.

If we still have elections by then.

36 posted on 01/21/2024 1:22:40 PM PST by flamberge (Candidates run for office, not for Sainthood. Work with whacha got.)
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To: conservative98

Something no one seems to remember: when DeSantis entered the race, the odds were less than even that Trump would survive the lawfare that was being thrown against him, and there needed to be someone who could have a running campaign as Trump’s successor.

What Trump has accomplished in tying up the lawfare attackers in knots, plus the revenge-vote that wants to support Trump because the voters understand that Trump is in the line of fire and we’re next, made the DeSantis campaign unnecessary. That’s the best of all possible situations, so let’s start really taking it to the left with TRUMP!


37 posted on 01/21/2024 1:26:38 PM PST by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
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To: Alberta's Child

DeSantis would have been foolish to accept a VP slot. The best VPs tend to be low-key political figures who don’t make good presidential candidates. The worst VPs are dopey losers who make awful presidential candidates.

********************

You’re correct on the history of the VP.

However, if 2024 ends up Biden vs Trump, both men are old & will only have 4 years if elected.

IMO that makes the VP position ‘different’ this year.


38 posted on 01/21/2024 1:27:19 PM PST by unclebankster ( Globalism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.)
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To: chajin
NO .. stop weaving an untrue story ... Duh-Saintis entered the ‘race’ only after he was reelected governor, where he use the ‘no-comment’ when asked .. AND

AFTER the super majority Florida legislature did two things for him personally ... By law hide his travel and phone contacts... and gave him employment cover to run while still holding office ...

Somebody promised this law fare cluck President Trump was going down... and he decided to take advantage of the corruption.

39 posted on 01/21/2024 1:32:43 PM PST by Just mythoughts (Psalm 2. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?)
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To: bert

You don’t run against someone whose views you share.

MAGA people backed Trump.

Where did Ron get his money? Did those that paid out huge sums back
MAGA or the old Bush GOPe/RNC?

I liked what I saw and heard about Ron when he was governor. As a candidate
I never saw him as an alpha dog. He seemed uncomfortable in his own skin.
His smiles seemed forced and at times just uncomfortable. As to those boots,
I saw him double thinking about going down some stairs in them. LOL

No thanks. I’ll be very surprise if I change my mind.


40 posted on 01/21/2024 1:40:38 PM PST by DoughtyOne (I pledge allegiance to the flag of the USofA & to the Constitutional REPUBLIC for which it stands.)
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