By Dan Murphy
Half of America has been waiting for the decision of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on whether he will seek the republican nomination for President in 2024. And the other half of America is either trying to make sure that former President Donald Trump will not run, or trying to find a suitable democratic presidential candidate is President Joe Biden can’t do it.
Perhaps the most important person watching Ron DeSantis as he builds up his warchester and contemplates the realities of running against Donald Trump is Ruppert Murdoch.
Murdoch, and his media companies, Fox News and the NY Post, have sworn off Trump, and placed all of their chips on DeSantis. But I had always wondered what if DeSantis doesn’t run and (ugh) what if its Biden -Trump again in 2024?
My curiosity about that possibility ended after reading a NY Post story by Salena Zito titled, DeSantis: People don’t want ‘agenda being shoved down their throats’
Zito, who has written about John Fetterman and his campaign for the U.S. Senate in Pennslyvania with great skill, received a nod and approval from both Murdoch and DeSantis to write an old-fashioned Presidential campaign puff piece, which introduces the 44 year old Governor of Florida to America.
And DeSantis, who has written a memoir, “The Courage to Be Free,” coming out this month, has a American Dreamlike story that would fit perfectly into an 8 minute video at the GOP convention next year. And Zito lays out the DeSantis story artfully, reviewing his early childhood, college, law school, the Navy, and political career, all fit neatly into the confines of a newspaper story.
DeSantis has won praise for Florida’s response to the recent hurricane, but also for his willingness to stand up for “education and not indoctrination.”
“Virtually every major institution in our country is attempting to impose a ‘progressive’ agenda on society,” the governor tells The Post. “Florida strives to protect the ability of its citizens to live their lives free from this agenda being shoved down their throats. “
Many believe that the Zito NY Post story was a confirmation to Murdoch and the millions of Americans who may not be willing to vote for Trump again, but will never vote for Biden, or Harris, of Newsome, that he will indeed run for President next year.
Most Americans can relate to DeSantis, who grew up in small town American and had to earn everything in his life, but without bitterness. Zito’s ability to paint DeSantis as a hard working young man attending Yale and then Harvard Law School brings to us the southern man attending the Ivy Leagues, and succeeding.
Zito writes how DeSantis hears all the time, “We moved here because of you,” and “You need to run for President.”
Some say he should wait, he’s only 44, and what’s the rush? Zito gives us a glimpse into DeSantis thought process on life. “And people say, ‘Well, you just got to balance everything,’” he says. “And I’m like, ‘You know what? I’m not going to balance it. I’m just going to do everything to the hilt and let the chips fall where they may.”
Political reporter Mark Halperin read Zito’s column and proclaimed in his daily newsletter, I am a subscriber, (https://substack.com/profile/5195035-mark-halperin utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email) “In a shocking and unprecedented development, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis entered the 2024 race for president today without firing a shot. Or, at least, without firing a traditional shot.”
“In a stunning Zito interview with DeSantis published in the New York Post, we get a literal and figurative tour of how the governor plans to frame his bio as a candidate, the “hero” narrative of how his dramatic/cinematic life story informs his public policy views, a huge step along the road to the White House that was skillfully traveled by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama: “My world had always been … this blue-collar town of Dunedin, and summer trips to my grandparents places in blue-collar Pennsylvania and Ohio steel towns,” You can mark Sunday, February 19, 2023 in your journal as the date Ron DeSantis started to run.
Halperin has also cautioned against DeSantis 2024 because of his inability to be warm and friendly to donors and supporters. The Zito story pushes back on that narrative a bit, but the digging on DeSantis will now begin.
The other Halperin warning to all Presidential candidates that I have learned listening to him on the Michael Smerconish show on Sirius/XM is you need money and media attention to get anywhere in the race. DeSantis has both, he has $100+ plus in the bank plus he can come on Fox News anytime thanks to Ruppert Murdoch.
