Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took some swings however none at former President Donald Trump Thursday in Iowa.
Accompanied by his spouse and youngsters, the Florida governor held a rally on the iconic “Discipline of Goals” film set in Dyersville, a far cry from the Fulton County jail the place the 77-year-old 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner was booked on charges associated to an alleged plot to overturn the 2020 Georgia election outcomes.
“Effectively, I’m glad I’m on the Discipline of Goals. I’m completely satisfied to be right here,” DeSantis, 44, responded when requested in regards to the stark distinction between how he and Trump have been spending their Thursday night.
The one distinction the Florida governor was keen to debate from the unmistakable baseball diamond – surrounded by cornfields and made well-known by the 1989 film “Discipline of Goals” – was that between him and his GOP rivals onstage Wednesday evening in Milwaukee on the first main debate, which he argued “got here by very strongly.”
“The factor in regards to the debate is, you realize, no person hit me so I wasn’t gonna become involved in that scrum,” DeSantis stated of his efficiency on the full of life discussion board. “I do know these guys have been going backwards and forwards. And what I did with 100% of my time was to talk on to the American individuals about our imaginative and prescient to reverse the nation’s decline.”
Hours earlier than the occasion, the DeSantis marketing campaign had been bracing for an onslaught of assaults from his lower-polling opponents.
“He undoubtedly would be the heart of assault,” DeSantis marketing campaign supervisor James Uthmeier informed ABC Information earlier than the talk.
DeSantis additionally insisted that he would again the previous president it doesn’t matter what if he have been to win the first when questioned about his obvious hesitation at elevating his hand when Fox Information host and debate moderator Bret Baier requested candidates if they might nonetheless help Trump because the GOP nominee if he have been convicted in a courtroom of regulation.
“It wasn’t due to that,” DeSantis stated of his sluggish hand elevate. “I signed that pledge. I’ll observe the pledge 100%. I objected to doing the hand-raise and I assumed many of the candidates appeared to agree with me and so I used to be like, ‘OK, are we actually doing this?’ and folks have been doing it.”
“I don’t assume he can be the nominee at that time, however I signed the pledge and that’s simply the truth of the state of affairs,” he added.
A post-debate survey commissioned exclusively for The Post discovered that 21% of GOP voters thought DeSantis carried out the most effective at Wednesday’s debate.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy edged out the Florida governor for the highest spot within the ballot, nevertheless, with 23% choosing the 38-year-old “Woke, Inc” writer and political newcomer as the talk winner.
