A standoff between former US President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has intensified after the latter formally entered the 2024 White House race.
Shortly after the Wednesday launch of his presidential bid on Twitter, though, DeSantis made it clear that he is “no longer tiptoeing” around the ex-POTUS, “nor is he being shy about his plans to flex the powers of the presidency,” as the US broadcaster put it.
DeSantis said he believes all candidates should participate in the planned GOP primary debates, which Trump previously threatened to boycott. “Nobody’s entitled to anything in this world,” the Florida governor emphasized.
In his post-launch speech, the Florida governor named the guidelines of the GOP as "tired dogmas of the past inadequate for the future" and pointed out spheres to be reformed.
In particular, he slammed the former US president as fiscally irresponsible and a supporter of amnesty for undocumented immigrants now that America is in the grip of a migration crisis.
He drew attention to the shortcomings of Trump’s COVID-19 mitigation policies and also warned against the longstanding tradition that government institutions like the US Department of Justice (DOJ) should operate independently from the president, striking more decisive tone than POTUS in this regard, according to American media.
The Florida governor added that if elected, his “day one” priority would be to fire the 45th president’s handpicked Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Christopher Wray.
Political analyst and activist Keith Preston has, meanwhile, told Sputnik that while DeSantis could win the Republican nomination, Trump remains the most popular GOP candidate, especially among primary voters, and will benefit from an expanding roster of candidates.
"The more candidates who enter the GOP primaries, the better Trump's chances. So far, it seems as if the 2016 scenario will repeat itself where many candidates will divide the votes among themselves, with Trump being able to win a plurality by default," Preston said.
Preston was echoed by Clodagh Harrington, a lecturer in US politics at University College Cork, who argued that while DeSantis potentially has a shot at taking the GOP nomination from Trump, it would be safer for him to wait for 2028, when both the ex-POTUS and the current President Joe Biden do not pose a challenge.
He also suggested that clashes between Trump and DeSantis could create an image of dysfunctionality on the Republican side that would work to the Democrats' advantage.
At the same time, both Harrington and Preston drew attention to DeSantis' "social conservatism" that may undermine him in a nationwide contest against Biden.
Robert Weissberg, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, for his part, believes that the lack of panache that Trump has could prove an asset rather than a handicap for the Florida governor.
"DeSantis is a very strong candidate whose lack of charisma may be an advantage after the wild man Trump," Weissberg said, suggesting that DeSantis could also do well with Hispanic voters.