Free Republic

Ron DeSantis’s struggles on the campaign trail have eroded his influence back home in Florida, and even once-close allies are revolting against his control. DeSantis was crowned early on as the natural successor to Donald Trump: A demagogic culture warrior, but younger and more disciplined—he was a figure who could appeal, in theory, both to MAGA diehards and Trump skeptics. When he launched his campaign, he was fresh off a series of victories at home. The Republican-controlled Florida state legislature had helped him pass multiple draconian measures limiting LGBTQ rights, educational freedom, and abortion access. While candidates backed by Trump...

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) slammed former President Donald Trump for claiming he was not "allowed" to fire former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, who helped lead the nation's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. DeSantis's comments come after Trump was asked on Hugh Hewitt's radio show Wednesday why he hadn't fired Fauci, who angered Republicans over his approach to masking and other pandemic-era guidance. "First of all, you’re not allowed. He’s civil service, and you’re not allowed to fire him," Trump told Hewitt. "But forget that, because I don’t necessarily go by everything. But Dr. Fauci would tell me...

'He was one of America's leading election critics until his campaign needed a "reset."'The Donald Trump campaign isn’t letting Ron DeSantis’ assertion that the result of the 2020 Presidential Election was legitimate after all go unchallenged.The former President’s Make America Great Again super PAC claims the Florida Governor and 2024 Primary rival “groveled” to NBC News by saying Joe Biden is the rightful President.“Ron DeSantis will say whatever he can to keep his campaign afloat, even though he was one of America’s leading election critics until his campaign needed a ‘reset.’ Ron will do whatever it takes to hoodwink a...

Here is Ron DeSantis full off-the-cuff response defending Trump vis-a-vis Trump's impending grand jury testimony: “Look, there’s a difference between being brought up on criminal charges and doing things. Like for example, I think it was shown how he was in the White House and didn’t do anything while things were going on. He should have come out more forcefully, of course. But to try to criminalize that, that's a different issue entirely and I think that we want to be in a situation where you don't have one side just constantly trying to put the other side in jail.”

South Carolinians have been bombarded in recent weeks with massive door hangers from a political action committee affiliated with Florida governor Ron DeSantis. These missives encourage them to consider the second-term Sunshine State governor as an alternative to Donald Trump. A paid employee leaving these “door hangs” for the Never Back Down PAC wants a particular voter in Charleston, S.C. to consider something else that dangles, though. Specifically … his balls. “#### you, get off my ####### lawn,” the door-knocker is heard saying on a Ring door camera, mimicking a property owner in the area who apparently confronted him for...

REPOST BY REQUEST (with addendum) – As the geography narrows before us, it is important to remember the stakes and avoid the distractions. As a consequence, the baseline must be reaffirmed. It is critical to understand that both the DNC and RNC are private corporations with no affiliation to government.It is a difficult shift in thinking, but the party system in U.S. politics revolves around two distinct private corporations, two clubs that feed from the same corporate trough and position for influence and affluence within a political dynamic they control.The priority for both clubs, Republican and Democrat, is NOT politically...

The goal, according to senior outside advisors, ought to be returning the DOJ and FBI to a more limited “pre-9/11” mission. DeSantis has assembled a brain trust of academics, members of Congress, and former administration officials to draw up step-by-step blueprints for tearing the DOJ and FBI down to the studs for a rebuild. He consults frequently with Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Chip Roy of Texas, conservatives always at war with government bureaucracy and openly hostile to federal power. Steven Bradbury of the Heritage Foundation and Victor Davis Hanson of the Hoover Institution have also joined the working...