Regardless of how some media outlets and political talking heads try to spin the differences between former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis, there isn’t much daylight between their ideological and political positions, including support to keep "GITMO" prison open.
President Trump coined the phrase “America First” while Gov. DeSantis followed his lead with his own “Florida First” slogan.
Gov. DeSantis recently addressed the torture allegations made against him when serving in the U.S. Navy in 2006-2007, where he is accused of watching enemy combatant prisoners housed in the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, force-fed by prison guards.
DeSantis told Piers Morgan that he did not have the authority to order the force-feeding of prisoners because he simply “didn’t have the authority” to do so.
“I was a junior officer. I didn’t have authority to authorize anything,” Mr DeSantis told Piers Morgan, in an interview to be broadcast on Thursday.
Gov. DeSantis hasn’t really talked much about his deployment to Guantanamo Bay, but is on record supporting the prison staying open.
“We should not release terrorists from Guantanamo Bay and should never tie the hands of our war fighters with restrictive rules of engagement,” stated then-Congressman DeSantis (2016)
During a 48-minute interview with Publisher Javier Manjarres in 2015, then-candidate Donald Trump agreed with DeSantis, saying that that he would not close down the prison at Guantanamo Bay and supported all tools available to interrogators to extract information from the prisoners.
While DeSantis has not openly supported using "advanced interrogation" techniques, Trump has.
“I would keep it and I would not close it, I would use it, and I would use it well,” said Trump. “I would have such a powerful military that no one would mess with us.”
President Barack Obama campaigned on closing the “Club Gitmo” as the late Rush Limbaugh use to call the prison, but never did.
The “Gitmo” prison is still open and operational.
Gov. DeSantis is expected to announce his presidential campaign against former President Trump in May.
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