After US President Joe Biden announced that he would stand for re-election in 2024, it didn’t take long for his predecessor and alleged rival Donald Trump’s email machine to kick in. In a stream of messages, he somberly described to his followers how the country was going to the dogs, which is why it was imperative that they send him money now. In return, he will save the country.
Trump also tried humor. There is now something that is even worse than warm beer. Namely? Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. One can vividly imagine the hearty laughter in Trump-affine households at this extremely original comparison. It came as a bit of a surprise in that Trump does not drink alcohol, so he has no personal knowledge of the advantages of cold beer over warm beer. A discussion of the question of why men of Trump’s age in particular like to drink their beer a little warm would lead too far at this point.
So after Biden’s announcement, Trump simply continued where he hadn’t stopped before: he begged his supporters for money. Or, to put it more elegantly, he was very committed to fundraising. As an aside, he found time to make a snide comment or two about Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who may become his inner-party rival for the presidential nomination. He is trying to “clean up the smudge from his failing campaign”. What that might mean is not entirely clear. But that’s not so important either, it’s all about the fact that the base regularly hears that DeSantis is not that good, while he, Trump, is particularly good.
Arrived in Japan, Ron DeSantis was connected to Fox News
The person addressed has recently left its natural habitat and embarked on a journey around the world, taking it via Japan and South Korea to Israel and Great Britain. The whole thing is referred to as an “international trade mission” for Florida. A DeSantis spokesman said his boss “continues to demonstrate exceptional leadership, including on the world stage.” Given that DeSantis has no foreign policy experience, which is expected of a president (at least that was the case before Trump entered the political arena), under the perennial Florida sun, they apparently decided it might be a good idea for the governor get out a bit.
One of the first things he did after arriving in Japan was to join Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News. Perhaps DeSantis was worried that America would forget him in a day while he’s out there on the broader world stage and showing leadership. DeSantis chose China as the subject, although he was in Japan. “They are showing their muscles and the fact that Biden has been very weak on the world stage encourages them even more,” he said.
Speaking to business leaders in Tokyo, DeSantis shared his observation that he hadn’t seen any garbage on the city’s streets. Florida is also looking very good, he assured his hosts, “but there are other states, other cities in other parts of the United States that can still learn something.” One could get the impression that DeSantis used his appearance on the world stage in front of everyone to address the audience in the home theater.
He also told the Japanese business representatives about a city called Chicago. This was once great, but now has big problems. Why is that? The city recently elected a liberal mayor.
The Florida governor is trying to position himself to the right of Donald Trump
The word “liberal” would certainly not describe DeSantis. He recently banned abortions in Florida after the sixth week, even though at that point many women don’t even know they’re pregnant. As a sort of compensation, he has allowed concealed carrying of firearms in the state. DeSantis has chosen to position himself to Trump’s right, although there isn’t much room there.
As expected, the traveling reporters were at best only secondarily interested in what the “international trade mission” for Florida could bring. So it wasn’t long before the inevitable question, “Governor, the polls show you’re falling behind Trump. What do you think?” a reporter asked. You could see from DeSantis that he had imagined it differently on the world stage. “I’m not a candidate,” he said, “so we’ll see if and when that changes.”
In fact, DeSantis has yet to officially announce his candidacy. However, there is no doubt in political circles that he wants to run and probably will. Possible dates are the end of May or the beginning of June. Some of the Republican Party’s major donors don’t want to run with Trump again in a presidential election. They see DeSantis as the only alternative.
While the governor travels to distant lands, people back home in Fort Lauderdale grapple with the aftermath of an historic flood. As the traveling DeSantis may have already noted, showing his extraordinary leadership there rather than on the world stage would have produced better images in many ways.