Republican DeSantis is considered the biggest internal party competitor for Donald Trump. The 44-year-old has now officially entered the presidential race. But his “big announcement” didn’t go as planned.
The prominent US Republican Ron DeSantis wants to become President of the United States – but his campaign start has caused a lot of ridicule. For his “big announcement”, the right-wing hardliner chose a conversation with Twitter boss Elon Musk broadcast on the Internet, but there were always sound problems at the beginning.
The governor of the southern state of Florida got rid of his message: “I’m running for president to lead our big American comeback,” said the 44-year-old in a video published at the same time on his Twitter account.
DeSantis is considered Donald Trump’s biggest internal party competitor. He wants to be a Republican candidate for the White House, but to do so he has to defeat former President Trump and other candidates in his party in the primaries. Trump had already announced in November that he would enter the race for the 2024 presidential election.
Announcement on Twitter becomes a “disaster”
DeSantis’ announcement was actually planned for 6 p.m. (local time) on Twitter – of all places on the platform that Trump once used so excessively. But the live conference moderated by Musk kept breaking off. It wasn’t until about 20 minutes later that the event restarted and DeSantis began to speak.
Even the conservative US broadcaster Fox News described DeSantis’ announcement, which had caused a lot of fuss, as a “disaster on Twitter”. And even US President Joe Biden couldn’t resist a little dig: At the time of the glitch, he published a link to the donation page for his own election campaign on his personal Twitter profile – and commented on it with the words: “This link works.”
DeSantis’ right-wing messages
Like his opponent Trump, DeSantis accuses the government of US President Joe Biden of leading the country into decline. “Our border is a disaster. Crime has ravaged our cities. The government is making it difficult for families to make ends meet and the president is messing around,” says the governor in his bid video.
In Florida, however, it has been proven that a different America is possible. Like Trump, DeSantis belongs to the right wing of the party and shares similar hard-line positions. However, he is less known for scandals, loss of control and political chaos than for being disciplined, sorted and considered. For those in the party and at the grassroots who are fed up with Trump’s antics but want a candidate with Trumpian content, DeSantis is seen as a viable alternative.
Trump shoots at it
Years ago, Trump was a kind of mentor for DeSantis, but the 76-year-old ex-president now feels threatened by the much younger applicant. With sharp words, Trump shot his opponent again on Wednesday. “Instead of being grateful, DeSantis is now attacking the very man who saved his career,” said one of two videos Trump made at about the same time as DeSantis’ announcement on the online platform “Truth Social” he co-founded. published. There is only one person who can make America great again – and that is Donald Trump.