Florida Governor and presidential hopeful, Ron DeSantis, was optimistic about the possibility of defeating former president Donald Trum in the 2024 Republican primariesp, the top favourite, while wishing that the investigation of the ex-president is not ended in accusation.
“I don’t think there’s any point in having a presidential election focused on what happened four years ago in January.“, DeSantis said today in an interview with CNN, referring to the investigation that Trump is the subject of for his role in the capture of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 by a mob of his supporters.
“I don’t want to see him (accused Trump), I hope they don’t impeach him. I don’t think he is good for the country. But at the same time I have to focus on looking forward, and that’s what we’ll do,” said DeSantis, who addressed the issue of his campaign’s financial situation, abortion, the LGBTQ issue in the interview with journalist Jake Tapper, and minimized the war in Ukraine.
In the interview with CNN, which was recorded shortly after Trump announced on social networks that he was the subject of an investigation for the aforementioned assault on the Capitol, the Republican governor expressed his confidence in being able to prevail over Trump in the Republican Party primaries.
In this context, he minimized the effect of his campaign’s staff cuts (at least 10 employees, according to Politico magazine) and showed himself capable of rising in the polls, which currently overwhelmingly give Trump as a favorite.
In fact, last week’s Morning Consult poll shows the former president (2017-2021) with 56% of voting intention among Republican voters, while the second favorite, DeSantis, has 17%.
That is to say, DeSantis is 40 percentage points behind Trump and registers a “historical minimum” for the pollster, which began tracking the primaries last December.
And a new University of New Hampshire poll released today shows Trump holding a double-digit lead over Desantis among likely New Hampshire primary Republican voters, 37% to 23%.
Speaking of foreign policy, DeSantis, 44, called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a war of “secondary or tertiary interest,” although he would be willing to “help bring it to a close.”
“The goal must be a sustainable and lasting peace in Europebut that does not reward aggression,” said the Republican presidential candidate.
Asked if he would stop arming Ukraine or stop sending financial aid to this nation, if he were president of the United States, DeSantis did not answer and simply advocated focusing on Asia and China.
“I will not decrease our stock and not send to Taiwan. I will not make us less capable of responding to the demands,” DeSantis told Tapper, later calling the future of the Pacific island of “significant interest.”
In terms of the electoral campaign, the Republican said that he has the financial resources to compete for the nomination and that, what is essential is “to have an important apparatus on the ground in the caucus states and the first states” in the battle of the primaries.
“Making investments and increasing the ability to attract more followers is what needs to be done,” he said.
He also came up against criticism received for a shared video in which he charged against Trump’s promises to protect LGBTQ rights, which his detractors called “divisive and desperate.”
DeSantis noted his determination to respect all people“but what it would not do is turn society upside down in order to accommodate (the LGBTQ community), which is a very, very small percentage of the population,” he said.
Regarding abortion, he pointed out that he considers himself a “pro-life” person. “I will be a pro-life president. And we will support pro-life policies, ”he said, further warning of the danger that the US Congress,“ if they lose the elections, ”will set itself the goal of“ nationalizing abortion up to the moment of birth ”.
A 2023 state law signed by DeSantis restricts abortion up to six weeks into the pregnancy.
With information from Efe.
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Source: La Opinion
