During a discussion with Democrat Charlie Crist on Monday night, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis gave the most convincing indication yet that he is thinking about running for president.
Former Florida governor Crist explicitly pressed DeSantis to promise to complete a four-year term if he wins the election next month. Why don’t you face the Floridians in the eyes and promise them that if you are reelected, you would hold office for a full four years? said Crist. “Yes” or “no”?
DeSantis initially remained silent. In fact, he was silent for a considerable amount of time. (The candidates had not consented to direct questions from the audience to one another.)
Crist pushed DeSantis even harder. It’s not a difficult question, Crist continued. It’s a reasonable inquiry. He won’t reveal it to you.
Crist eventually ran out of time to speak, and DeSantis retaliated by saying, “I know Charlie’s interested in talking about 2024, about Joe Biden. However, I just want to be crystal clear. Charlie Crist is the only arthritic old donkey I want to retire to pasture.
The conversation was instructive on a number of levels:
1) DeSantis didn’t rule out running for a position besides governor. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for him to just state, “I will serve a full four-year term.” or a variation on that theme. No, he didn’t. Why? because he is considering running for president in 2024.
2) DeSantis certainly had a ready-made statement prepared for just such a question when he finally responded to Crist’s query. Which implies he and his team wanted to make sure the governor had an answer ready in case he was questioned about his desire to run for president. They knew the governor would face this question.
If, as predicted, DeSantis wins a second term as governor of Florida in November, chatter that he intends to seriously consider a national run will only be fueled by his response and the deliberate lack of clarity it conveyed.
According to polling, DeSantis is the only Republican with a possibility of defeating former President Donald Trump in a 2024 primary, even though even the governor would be a significant underdog in such a contest.
Trump is obviously aware of DeSantis’ interest in the 2024 election and feels threatened by it. Trump criticised DeSantis on Monday for supporting Joe O’Dea, a Republican running for the Senate in Colorado. O’Dea previously told AWN that he thought Trump should not run for office again and that he would “actively” oppose the former President if he did.
Trump has previously asserted that by supporting DeSantis in a 2018 gubernatorial contest, he “created” the congressman and that he did not anticipate that DeSantis would truly challenge him in 2024.
But unlike almost every other Republican, DeSantis has refrained from prostrating himself before Trump. The governor of Florida hasn’t asked Trump for his support in his reelection campaign and hasn’t ruled out running for president if Trump is a candidate in the 2024 election.
Given all of that information, you can be sure that Trump attentively monitored DeSantis’ response on 2024 Monday night and couldn’t be happier with what DeSantis said (or didn’t say).