(The Guardian) Adam Taylor has written the Washington Post’s Today’s WorldView newsletter today, with a focus on Florida’s governor, asking is the world ready for President DeSantis? Taylor writes: A disappointing night for most Republicans turned into a very good night for one Floridian. Governor Ron DeSantis not only won a second term in Tuesday’s midterm elections but also did so by a sizeable margin. The results cemented many expectations that DeSantis would run for president in 2024. And to some Democrats, the double-digit wins seen by not only DeSantis but Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio on Tuesday have firmly ended the chapter where the state could be seen as a swing state.
Taylor picks out a couple of implications for a future DeSantis run for the White House, noting: DeSantis is not Trump. He may not always act like it, but DeSantis’s résumé is more of a run-of-the-mill Republican civil servant than the bombastic-businessman-turned-political-arsonist Trump. In some ways, DeSantis’s background makes him look closer to former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, whose more interventionist leanings were sometimes at odds with Trump.
Taylor also picks up that DeSantis’ Florida roots would potentially signal a change in priorities for US foreign policy: Unlike Trump, born wealthy in New York City and only belatedly becoming a resident, DeSantis is a real Florida man. And to some extent, he lives up to the reputation, notably paying extra attention to foreign issues close to many Floridians: Including Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia and Haiti.
DeSantis is happy to use brash rhetoric and even cruel stunts to make his point. He has flown Venezeulean migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in a bid to own liberals and battled with Disney over gay rights — breaking with Republican orthodoxy to complain about corporate power. He has said France would fold if Russia invaded and sided with Elon Musk over Ukrainian leaders after the U.S. billionaire suggested Kyiv needed to negotiate a peace deal with Russia.
And while DeSantis appears to have accepted the reality of climate change’s likely impact on Florida, he has favored throwing money at climate adaptation rather than working to actually mitigate the problem.
Taylor picks out a couple of implications for a future DeSantis run for the White House, noting: DeSantis is not Trump. He may not always act like it, but DeSantis’s résumé is more of a run-of-the-mill Republican civil servant than the bombastic-businessman-turned-political-arsonist Trump. In some ways, DeSantis’s background makes him look closer to former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, whose more interventionist leanings were sometimes at odds with Trump.
Taylor also picks up that DeSantis’ Florida roots would potentially signal a change in priorities for US foreign policy: Unlike Trump, born wealthy in New York City and only belatedly becoming a resident, DeSantis is a real Florida man. And to some extent, he lives up to the reputation, notably paying extra attention to foreign issues close to many Floridians: Including Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia and Haiti.
DeSantis is happy to use brash rhetoric and even cruel stunts to make his point. He has flown Venezeulean migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in a bid to own liberals and battled with Disney over gay rights — breaking with Republican orthodoxy to complain about corporate power. He has said France would fold if Russia invaded and sided with Elon Musk over Ukrainian leaders after the U.S. billionaire suggested Kyiv needed to negotiate a peace deal with Russia.
And while DeSantis appears to have accepted the reality of climate change’s likely impact on Florida, he has favored throwing money at climate adaptation rather than working to actually mitigate the problem.
