In a recent town hall event in New Hampshire, former combat veteran and Governor Ron DeSantis finally followed the lead of other 2024 Republican presidential candidates and threw an open and unfiltered punch at former President Donald Trump.
When he was asked how he would handle the expected verbal attacks from President Trump on the debate stage, Governor DeSantis squarely landed a haymaker to the former president, calling his past and future insults “phony” and “juvenile.”
“So here's the thing, these insults are so phony. These insults are juvenile. That is not the way a great nation should be conducting itself. That is not the way the President of the United States should be conducting himself,” said DeSantis.
This was arguably DeSantis's biggest, most assertive moment of the 2024 presidential campaign cycle.
DeSantis continued, stating,” I'm not going to insult somebody, somebody's looks, somebody's dress, or something like that.”
“I wouldn't teach my kids to treat people like that. We have a six, five, and a three-year-old. We teach our kids to treat people the way you would want to be treated yourself,” added DeSantis.
But while he says that he will not insult people based on their appearances, DeSantis forgot that he insulted Dr. Anthony Fauci by referring to him as “a little elf” that should be “chucked across the Potomac.”
“Someone needs to grab that little left and chuck him…”-@GovRonDeSantis on Fauci #FlPol #Florida pic.twitter.com/YmaOxQmcQB
— Javier Manjarres (@JavManjarres) August 24, 2022
DeSantis made the disparaging remark about Fauci’s height during a 2022 campaign event in Seminole County, Florida.
In addition, DeSantis did make it a point to praise President Trump, but only appeared to do so in order to set up another smackdown.
“You know one of the things I think about the former president, and I appreciate he did do a lot of great things and I was a big supporter, but he's running in 2024 on the things that he promised to do in 2016 and didn't do,” added DeSantis.
DeSantis listed several things that Trump promised to do as president, but in the end, failed to accomplished.
“He said he was going to “Drain the Swamp.” He did not “Drain the Swamp. Not even close, we ended his presidency with Anthony Fauci running the country. You couldn't even fire Fauci and so now you're going to go drain the swamp? Give me a break.—Gov. DeSantis
Weak. https://t.co/w2HMVpN6cE
— Chris Nelson 🇺🇸 🏝 (@ReOpenChris) August 5, 2023
DeSantis is right. Trump did not drain the swamp as promised, and he didn’t fire Fauci.
“He said Mexico was going to pay for the border wall. Do you see the border secured? I see people coming in infinitum.”—Gov. Ron DeSantis
This accusation by DeSantis is highly questionable.
During his presidency, illegal alien crossings appeared to drop like a rock due to the immigration policies Trump put in place. The Remain in Mexico policy was effective and a measure that to this day, DeSantis supports and has said he would bring back as President.
The Biden Administration ended the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy, fueling a new surge of tens of thousands of illegal aliens after Trump left the White House. The Democratic-led House of Representatives pulled funding for the border wall when they took power in 2018, and a federal judge struck down Trump’s executive order to build the infamous border wall.
“He said that he was going to lock Hillary up just like he's now saying he's going to do a special counsel for Biden, two weeks after the election in 2018— Ah forget about it. don't worry about it.” —Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Yes, Trump said he was going to “lock” Hillary Clinton up for her alleged crimes, but did not do so.
“Then he actually said he was going to eliminate the national debt. He added $8 trillion to the debt, we've paid down our debt in Florida. He did more in four years than any president has ever done to expand it.”—Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Again, DeSantis is right. Trump did add $8 Trillion to the national debt when he attempted to keep the country afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the pandemic, DeSantis accepted $13.4 billion from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act of 2020 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, but refused to return up to $200 million of those funds that were not spent.
Former Governor Rick Scott requested from DeSantis and other state and local elected officials to return leftover funds to the federal government. DeSantis did not.
DeSantis’s townhall appearance may been the official reboot to his presidential campaign he needed, as “America’s Governor” sounded confident, knowledgable of the issue, and most important to his supporters and potential voters, not afraid to take on Trump.
The latest public opinion polls show that Trump is leading DeSantis by over 30 percentage points.
It will be interesting to see the outcome of the next round of polls that are surely in the field right now. These polls will reflect the opinions of Republican voters after the third indictment of Trump.
If polls continue to show Trump crushing the field even after a third indictment, DeSantis and others may need to rethink their overall game plan, but then again, it is still very early in the 2024 presidential cycle.
