Free Republic

For reasons mysterious to the rational human mind, Fox News and the Republican National Committee decided to subject Americans to the most bizarre public spectacle in recent memory. It was stupid. It was strange. It was the second Republican presidential primary debate, which began with British-American Stuart Varney having a seizure while attempting to introduce his Univision cohost Ilia Calderón and concluded with Dana Perino asking the contestants who should be “voted off the island.” “Leading the charge, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dismissed the question outright,” The Independent reported. “I’m not going to do that, with all due respect, we’re...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sat down with "Special Report" on Monday for a wide-ranging interview, offering insight into whether former President Donald Trump can win in a general election. DeSantis said he doesn’t believe Trump can win in 2024 because there are "too many voters who just aren't going to vote for him going forward." "I saw it in Florida in my re-election. You know, I won the first time by less than a percent, second time by ‘20. Why did people vote against me in ‘18 but then voted for me in ‘22? The number one reason they gave...

When asked whether he believed Trump’s actions were wrong in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection, DeSantis said Trump should have “come out more forcefully.”(Read more here)

A video of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis roaring with laughter has emerged, as the 2024 hopeful makes an apparent effort to loosen-up. The video, which first aired on C-Span, shows the governor engaged in a conversation with a man at a classic car show in Iowa on May 13. When DeSantis asks: 'I saw that you have like a 1955 Porsche in there. That one's nice. How much is that worth?' 'Ugh, we won't even talk about that,' the man responds. DeSantis was clearly tickled by the remark, and flung his head back to give a hearty-open mouthed guffaw. An...

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis will officially enter the 2024 U.S. presidential race next week, according to two sources familiar with the decision, immediately becoming Donald Trump's biggest rival for the Republican nomination and shaking up a contest that largely has been one-sided. DeSantis will likely file paperwork declaring his candidacy on May 25 to coincide with a donor meeting in Miami, with a more formal launch the week of May 29, according to a source. The invitation for the May 25 event stated that donors would be put to “work,” an apparent allusion to...

Advisers to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are actively preparing for a possible presidential run, according to two Republicans with knowledge of the conversations who described meetings and preliminary staffing moves — the latest indication that DeSantis is laying a foundation for a national campaign. DeSantis’s political team has already identified multiple potential hires in early primary states such as New Hampshire and Iowa, according to one of the Republicans, who said experienced operatives have expressed interest. This Republican also said that Phil Cox and Generra Peck — two key members of DeSantis’s 2022 reelection team — are involved in ongoing...