Ron DeSantis lands rare jab at Donald Trump: ‘Not on entertainment’

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis kicked off his 2024 presidential campaign in Iowa by subtly attacking his biggest challenger in the GOP primary, Donald Trump.

DeSantis, who for months avoided retaliating against the former president’s series of attacks and insults against him, fired back with several veiled jabs at Trump during a speech to kick off his official campaign at the White House at Clive’s Eternity Church, just outside of Des Moines. , Tuesday.

The event marked the start of a four-day, 12-city tour of the first primary caucus states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina for DeSantis, who confirmed he was running for the presidency in a May 24 Twitter Space ad that was plagued with technical issues.

Florida Governor and 2024 presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis speaks during his campaign kick-off event at Eternity Church in Clive, Iowa on May 30, 2023. DeSantis used the campaign speech to kick off some number of veiled attacks on Donald Trump. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images

In addition to praising his own policies and success in Florida, DeSantis appeared to attack Trump’s leadership style and accomplishments during his tenure.

“At the end of the day, leadership isn’t about entertainment,” DeSantis told the crowd. “It’s not about building a brand, it’s not about signaling virtue.

“It’s about results, and in Florida, we haven’t led with just words, we’ve followed our words with deeds, and we’ve produced a record of achievement that we would pit against anyone in this world. country.”

DeSantis also spoke about the crisis at the US-Mexico border and the “millions of illegal aliens who have poured into this country, including criminal aliens, and even individuals on the terrorist watch list”, while saying that he will be the presidential candidate who can control and stop illegal immigration at the border.

“I’ve been listening to these politicians talk about securing the border for years and years and years,” DeSantis said in another apparent subtle dig at Trump. “I can tell you that if I’m president, this will finally be the time when we wrap up this issue.”

During his speech, DeSantis also dealt several blows to his potential Democratic challenger in 2024, Joe Biden, including suggesting that the president’s recent debt ceiling agreement will drive the country “to bankruptcy”.

“It gives the green light to $4 trillion in new debt in less than two years. It took us almost 200 years to get to $4 trillion in debt in the first place. COVID era, and he’s maintaining 98 percent of the 87,000 new tax officials that Joe Biden has put in place,” DeSantis added.

The Florida governor’s 87,000 figure was a reference to the Republican claim, rejected by Democrats and fact-checkers, that the funding that was introduced in the Inflation Reduction Act last year will be used to hire tens of thousands of new IRS agents to audit low- and middle-income families.

DeSantis also borrowed a line of attack from Trump that the former president used to mock Biden’s campaign efforts in the 2020 election in his speech in Iowa.

“It’s great to be back. And it’s great for me to announce that our great American comeback begins with sending Joe Biden back to his basement in Delaware,” DeSantis said.

“I mean, he’s spent so much time as president on vacation, you might as well make it permanent.”

Polls have frequently suggested that Trump is the clear favorite to land the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 ahead of DeSantis.

According to national average tracker FiveThirtyEight, Trump leads in the GOP primary with 54.3%, with DeSantis a distant second at 20.7%.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s office and the White House for comment via email.

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