Florida Governor Ron DeSantis bashed President Joe Biden’s policies on everything from public spending and energy to immigration, using his second-term inauguration to set up a potential run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
(Bloomberg) — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis bashed President Joe Biden’s policies on everything from public spending and energy to immigration, using his second-term inauguration to set up a potential run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
In a speech Tuesday in Tallahassee, the 44-year-old governor criticized the “floundering federal establishment in Washington, DC” and singled out the US government’s “inflationary spending binge.” He said the current administration “recklessly facilitated open borders, making a mockery of the rule of law,” without specifically naming Biden.
“The results of this have been predictably dismal,” DeSantis said. “Florida is proof positive that we the people are not destined for failure.”
The inauguration speech, which lasted a little over 15 minutes, also touched on familiar DeSantis topics. He blasted Covid mask mandates and lockdowns, and touted Florida’s success in attracting tens of thousands of families from other states. And he listed what he called “threats to freedom” in the form of “entrenched bureaucrats in DC, jet-setters in Davos and corporations wielding public power.”
A sweeping victory in November has helped transform DeSantis into a viable alternative to Donald Trump for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential race, although DeSantis has never publicly acknowledged plans to run. He would still need to fend off the many other GOP rivals expected to seek the party’s nomination.
For now, DeSantis is focusing on ramping up the culture wars that pushed him to the national stage and won over big-ticket donors. He promised to ensure school systems are responsive to parents and not “partisan interest groups,” and to use Florida’s budget surplus to hand out tax breaks to offset the burden of inflation.
Since his November victory, DeSantis sought a Florida Supreme Court probe into Covid vaccine shots and pushed for legislation to loosen the state’s firearms carry laws.
Florida’s Democratic Party said DeSantis’s second term promises to be a “disaster” as he ratchets up an “extreme agenda” aimed at getting enough support from the GOP’s right flank to beat Trump for the presidential nomination.
“Instead of catering to corporate interests and trying to boost his presidential profile, DeSantis should take action on behalf of working Floridians who are struggling to make ends meet,” party spokesperson Gricel Gonzalez said in a statement.
(Adds comment from Democratic Party in last two paragraphs.)
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