MIAMI, FLORIDA — On Wednesday night, The Florida Standard was able to listen into a call with Ron DeSantis where he talked about his campaign strategy.
“We had an internet-breaking start with Elon Musk,” DeSantis quipped. “You know, he offered me the ability to do either a SpaceX rocket or Twitter. I just figured Twitter would be safer.”
EARLY STATES ARE KEY
DeSantis is headed to early-voting states this weekend to build momentum as he begins his official race to the White House.
“I think we’re going into the race with more local endorsements in the early states than any candidate has ever had – without even being an announced candidate,” DeSantis said on the call.
“I mean, when you’re getting the leader of the Senate and the House majority leader in Iowa without me even being a candidate, I mean, that’s a big deal,” he added.
The governor then plans to commemorate Memorial Day officially as governor over the holiday weekend. But he said his campaign will begin launching major events in early states next week.
“We’re not just gonna, you know, show up once in a blue moon,” DeSantis said. “We’re gonna paint every corner of these early states.”
FIGHTING BACK
The campaign is already raising massive amounts of money, despite it being the number one target today by the corporate media, other Republicans – and pretty much everyone in between.
But DeSantis says that with his official launch, he is now in a position to fight back in a more effective way.
Regarding former President Trump, DeSantis says the contrast between the two Republican front-runners is actually helpful.
“Now he’s running attacks. Attacking me for voting against an omnibus spending bill that he signed when he was president,” DeSantis explained. “He added almost eight trillion to the debt in a four-year period of time.”
“I’m happy to be, you know, on the conservative side of that debate because I think our debts have gone up way too much.”
DeSantis said Trump is also attacking him for voting against an amnesty bill.
“He said that it was ‘voting against the wall.’ But if you remember that bill, it was like a pittance for that in exchange for massive amnesty. I oppose amnesty.”
DeSantis said America First policies opposed amnesty. Yet Trump endorsed it and tried to “ram through an amnesty.”
A PROVEN RECORD OF SUCCESS
DeSantis says he’s bringing “a record of accomplishment” that he doesn’t think anyone can match – reminding supporters that a leader has to set the vision, then bring people over to their side.
“It’s not like I’m taking policy positions that are alienating massive segments of Republicans,” DeSantis exclaimed. “People are gonna see somebody who’s got a proven record of success, who’s representing the values that the vast majority of our party professes to hold.”
He said the key to defeating Biden is to win the independent voters that he was able to win overwhelmingly in Florida. Republicans failed to win those votes in 2020 or in 2022 in the majority of the House and Senate races.
“I think that there are millions of people that want to move on from Biden. And I think that they’re ripe for us to be able to get, but I think you gotta have a vehicle that they’re comfortable with,” DeSantis said.
