DeSantis vs. Newsom would be a 24-year battle of ideas — not a Biden-Trump clown show
And let’s go!
Finally—finally—the real race for the presidency has begun.
Ron DeSantis’ announcement on Wednesday, complemented by Tim Scott’s earlier in the week, means the race is finally getting interesting.
Of course, the Florida governor’s critics over the last day have focused on a brief technical glitch early in his Twitter Spaces launch.
But they ignored the strength of his start.
What was that strength?
It was the fact that this was a candidate who didn’t just talk broadly about the country, but actually went into detail.
DeSantis’s time in Congress gave him great insight into what is wrong at the highest level in this country.
Not least with the administrative state.
His tenure as Florida governor taught him how things can change.
And with each topic he became more specific.
That’s not something all presidential candidates aren’t interested in.
But so far, DeSantis has been at a disadvantage.
Ever since it became clear that he was one of the main Republican contenders for the presidency, he has been targeted by the left-leaning rabble.
They threw punch after punch at him.
Check out the list of Crock stories they came up with. As Florida struggled to protect children from inappropriate educational materials, the left claimed that Florida had a “don’t say gay” law.
And how about the “travel warning” issued by the NAACP earlier this week, which claimed Florida was “openly hostile to African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ people.”
For months these groups and their media representatives have been taking these insane photos at DeSantis.
But now they have a problem.
DeSantis can refer to both actions and words.
Because DeSantis doesn’t just say that his critics are mean or evil. He doesn’t just call it all “fake news”.
Like Glenn Youngkin and other successful Republican governors, he has real results.
My favorite part of the introductory Q&A session was when the NAACP’s “travel advisory” was brought up.
DeSantis noted with amusement that the chairman of the NAACP – Leon Russell – happened to live in Florida.
So he obviously doesn’t believe in his own “travel warning”.
DeSantis also pointed out that comparing Florida to a number of Democratic-run cities like Baltimore and Chicago to even pretend his state poses a threat to black Americans is obscene.
But DeSantis could also point to the positives.
The fact that Florida has more black-owned businesses than any other state in the country.
The fact that DeSantis Florida has more African Americans running state agencies than at any time in the state’s history. And they did it on their merits.
Then crucial to education.
The fact that the state ranks third in 4th grade reading and second in 4th grade math nationally for black students. Such facts are not only at odds with the stories of the left. You blow them apart.
And here it seems to me that there are two options for this country.
It’s possible that the 2024 race will be a repeat of 2020.
Trump is still leading the polls among Republican voters, and Joe Biden is set to enter his ninth decade as the Democratic nominee.
Personally, just thinking about this race makes me want to settle down in a dark room.
Biden will spend all his time pointing at Trump and saying, “But look what his name is.”
Trump, meanwhile, will continue to talk about how the last election was rigged, though he has no discernible plan for how he’s going to undo the rigging next time.
Does he plan to lose to Biden again?
It would be far better for this country if those two candidates got out of the way and America finally got the debate it needs.
As I’ve said here, the Republicans have a good bank of talent.
The Democrats don’t.
Assuming the Democrats were never stupid enough to allow Kamala to run for the top job, they would have to go down a generation and lead someone like Gavin Newsom.
And there is a race.
There is the debate this country needs.
The choice could hardly be clearer.
Both Newsom and DeSantis have had the opportunity to rule a state.
Both can run with their record.
We know the Florida Model’s success during the COVID-19 crisis, for the economy in general, and more.
And Newsom? Well, a major city-commissioned survey released this week in San Francisco found that only half of the sidewalks in the city’s commercial parks have feces on them.
So there is.
In Gavin Newsom’s “America” you have about a 50/50 chance of being in the 1960s.
Somewhere in the divergent development of these two states lies the debate worth having.
A Debate on America’s Future.
When it comes to Florida vs. California, it’s also a debate Republicans can win.
Later alligator
My hero of the week is Jordan Rivera, a bar-goer from Florida.
The Post reported yesterday that it is the 23-year-old who was attacked by an alligator in the early hours of the morning while taking a cheeky bathroom break outside.
When Jordan woke up in the hospital, he said stoically, “I didn’t lose my life — I lost an arm.
“It’s not the end of the world.”
I love it.
In a world of constant moaning, that’s the mind.
Questions about Gates
This week’s revelations about Bill Gates and his alleged affair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova make no sense.
When the story broke this week, a Gates spokesperson said Jeffrey Epstein tried to blackmail Gates about this past affair in 2017.
In an email, Epstein asked Gates to reimburse him for the girl’s tuition at a software programming school.
Just one question: Why did Gates have to pay for his then 20-year-old girlfriend’s college tuition from a much less wealthy friend?
It’s not like Gates didn’t have the money himself.
Could one of the richest men in the world really not afford to pay for a software programming course himself?
It’s almost like we don’t get the whole story.
