Free Republic

Ron DeSantis has further alienated the America First conservatives he hoped to win over from Donald Trump’s base by disparaging January 6th protestors, denying they were motivated by patriotism.Speaking at a CNN town hall, the Florida Governor was asked if “the January 6th insurrections display[ed] patriotism, as some of them claim they did” by an audience member.“No, of course not,” DeSantis replied immediately. “I mean, that was not a good day for the country. I think the media has taken that, and I think the left has taken that, and really tried to politicize it, but it was not a...

Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to Vivek Ramaswamy saying he would be "complicit" in lawfare against the Trump campaign by remaining in primary contests that ban the former president and a new attack ad from the Haley campaign RON DESANTIS: Just absurd. I mean, I have a responsibility to accumulate delegates. I'm not gonna unilaterally cede any, I'm gonna win as many as I can, and I've been very clear about both of those decisions in those states. It's not consistent with the Constitution. I do expect them to get reversed. (LAURA INGRAHAM:)Nikki Haley super PAC has an ad out that...

On the menu today: The cover piece in the newest issue of National Review has Ron DeSantis fans grumbling that it’s far too early for such a gloomy assessment of his campaign because not a single vote has been cast yet. Fine, but to believe that DeSantis has a shot of winning Iowa, we need to believe that his support is at least 15 percentage points higher than his highest numbers in recent polling and that Donald Trump’s support is at least 15 percentage points lower than his lowest numbers in recent polling. (If you simply take DeSantis’s best number...

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday in an interview with MSNBC that he would continue to send U.S. military aid to Ukraine but did not specify how much and for how long.Asked by MSNBC Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough if he supported “continued funding” for Ukraine and if so, for how long, DeSantis repliied:So I would not do what Biden’s doing which is funding pensions for bureaucrats over their pet funding salaries, their funding small business stuff. We were supportive of the defensive weaponry to be able to prevent Putin from taking over the country.So as president,...

Vice President Mike Pence is a principled man of faith who has worked tirelessly to advance the conservative cause. Casey and I appreciate Mike and Karen for their willingness to put themselves forward in this campaign and wish the Pence family well in their next steps. Oct 28, 2023

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has launched his most brazen attack on former President Donald Trump to date, claiming Trump “attack[ed] our friend and ally, Israel” and falsely claiming he “praise[d] Hezbollah terrorists” during a speech in Florida.The clip of Trump’s speech, however, undermines the claim. In context, it is clear the 45th President was referring to how “smart” Hezbollah leadership has been in comparison with the Biden government’s capabilities.“I read all of Biden’s security people, can you imagine, national defense people, and they said ‘Gee, I hope Hezbollah doesn’t attack from the north, because that’s the most vulnerable spot!'” Trump...

A number of Ron DeSantis supporters have taken to social media to announce they will vote for Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. before they unify behind Donald Trump, despite the DeSantis camp pitching the Florida Governor as a facsimile of Trump with less “baggage” and more “effective” administration.“Since I have been reliably told for months by Trump supporters that they would write him in even if DeSantis or anyone else won the GOP primary, it’s good to have permission to support RFK in the general if DeSantis doesn’t win the GOP primary,” wrote DeSantis booster Scott Morefield, a...

Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking the fight to former President Donald Trump, calling out the polling leader's refusal to debate as an indication Trump cannot beat President Joe Biden."He's not showing up: He's missing in action," DeSantis told HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher" on Friday night. "He owes it to voters to show up and defend his record. And I think he thinks he can take a juiced [up] poll, and then people don't get to vote. That's not the way the system works."You've got to go earn votes. So I'm showing up."DeSantis is calling out Trump...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who's been trailing Donald Trump in 2024 GOP primary polls, doubts that the former president can be re-elected if he's convicted of a felony. “I think the chance of getting elected president after being convicted of a felony is as close to zero as you can get,” DeSantis said in an interview with CBS News. Anchor Norah O'Donnell asked DeSantis if he agreed with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, another Republican presidential candidate, who said Americans won’t vote for a convicted criminal. She also asked DeSantis if he believes voters will elect someone who is...

A leading Iowa Evangelical activist believes that the critical state caucuses are "tailor-made" for an upset with a Republican field that is "wide-open," saying that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has run a strong ground game as former President Donald Trump dominates the polls.As Republican presidential hopefuls focus on wooing conservatives in Iowa, Bob Vander Plaats, the president of the Iowa-based advocacy group The FAMiLY Leader, discussed the state of the race in The Hawkeye State in an interview with The Christian Post.Vander Plaats takes an active role in the primary campaign by interacting with the candidates and hosting the FAMiLY...

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...

Presidential primaries get very dirty, and that’s to be expected. But here in April 2023, the GOP one has already descended into a disgusting spiral of lies and insanity — because of the increasingly disordered and amateurish Donald Trump campaign. Trump has a clear lane in the primary. He has a record of accomplishment as president; he led the country to prosperity that has since sharply declined; he exposes the politicization and corruption of our government agencies when he’s personally targeted by leftist activist district attorneys like Alvin Bragg and when he is the subject of a baseless search for...

Is this the right time for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to run for president ? Potential candidates calculate odds, take polls, and count dollars to determine whether they should run. But it’s often not an easy decision; timing is the biggest conundrum in politics. DeSantis once seemed to have a glide path to the Republican Party's presidential nomination. His strong popularity among Republicans nationwide, together with his big reelection win and former President Donald Trump’s flubbing the midterm elections, put him in the driver’s seat. But now that the nomination is hitched to the wild uncertainties of indictments, some DeSantis...

Although the landmark 34-count criminal case against former President Donald Trump hinges on his alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, the Manhattan DA’s investigation also deals with a less-familiar name – Karen McDougal. McDougal, a 52-year-old former Playboy Playmate, claims she had an affair with Trump over a decade ago. She also says she was silenced when Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, and the leadership at American Media Inc. paid her for her story in the run-up to the 2016 election — and then buried it. *** In a Feb. 2018 report based on McDougal’s...

We can't go wrong with this fella. Find 60 minutes today to listen to the full speech on YouTube. You'll see how he's grown as a politician.

Stubborn Trump supporters, especially the most fervent, seem unwilling to challenge the deedless covenant, ask the hard questions that if answered truthfully would confirm that Donald Trump has been a supreme letdown, and his failures -- including the re-election debacle -- self-inflicted. Promises made, promises kept? Not when it mattered. Drain the swamp? Spinning around in an airboat. Trump never cleaned up the FBI, instead hired the Dem sympathizer Christopher Wray as Director, and except for a few gratuitous tweets about his incompetence, left him in place. Gina Haspel, CIA chief, kept the job until the last day despite the...

For the first time, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has criticized former President Donald Trump for refusing to concede power following the 2020 election – in a generalized comment referencing events more than 200 years ago. DeSantis, who condemned rioters inside the Capitol where he once served, but has said little about Trump's push to have courts and allies toss out the results, made remarks during an interview with Piers Morgan, where he also blasted Trump administration chaos.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis implicitly hit at the 'daily drama' of the Trump White House in a new interview, where he brushed off the former president's chosen insult for him and cited the 'underlying conduct' of the Stormy Daniels 'hush' money agreement. In a potential preview of the marquis 2024 Republican primary matchup, DeSantis spoke at length about what he described as fundamental shortcomings of his potential presidential rival, highlighting his strong reelection win and casting himself as preferring policy 'victories' over 'chaos.' 'I also think just in terms of my approach to leadership, I get personnel in the government...

Fox News is running an hour-long campaign infomercial to support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis winning the 2024 GOP primary nomination. Inside the political messaging, Jeb Bush gives his full-throated endorsement. {Direct Rumble Link} WATCH:Based on current available evidence, the announcement of a 2024 presidential bid is a mere formality, likely to surface later in 2023, as all the background datapoints reflect the strategic and financial team behind Ron DeSantis have been positioning an announcement since late 2021. One visible datapoint has been his campaign office, specifically his then spokesperson Christina Pushaw, reaching out to a group of Florida influencers and...