The Steep Rise of Trump Clone Ron DeSantis – A Portrait Selenskyj: Fierce Battles for Position and Plunder – The Nightly Update with No Photos

Whether democracy will emerge victorious from these midterms is still written in 50 stars. But a certain winner of this election has already been determined: Florida’s governor has been confirmed in office.

Ron DeSantis – a Republican by trade and perhaps soon the man who will temporarily shatter Donald Trump’s dreams of running again.

But how did this man with the eye-catching toothpaste commercial smile get this far? A portrait:

The prototypical American politician

When DeSantis was sworn in as governor in 2019, he was 40, the youngest Florida governor in a century. DeSantis’ studies, career, and family seem tailor-made for this position.

In his official biographies, he is described as “a native Floridian with working-class roots”. His grandparents are all from Italy. DeSantis himself was born on September 14, 1978 in Jacksonville, Florida.

In terms of education, he has an illustrious curriculum vitae: he obtained a bachelor’s degree in history at the Yale University, where he was also the captain of the college baseball team. After a one-year interlude as a history teacher, he began studying law at the Harvard University. During this second degree, he also entered the naval jurisdiction as an officer cadet.

After graduation, he remained loyal to the military for the time being, working on a base and later became the infamous Elite Military Unit SEAL Team One as Legal Adviser assigned. For a deployment in Iraq he was awarded a Bronze Star Medal, a Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal.

After his active service, DeSantis Assistant U.S. Attorney for Florida’s Mid District and guest columnist for conservative newspapers such as the National Review and the Washington Times. In 2011, he published a patriotic book, Dreams from Our Founding Fathers, in which he attempts to explain how former US President Barack Obama deviated from American basic principles.

Catholic DeSantis has been married to former TV host Casey since 2010. The two are parents of three children.

A childhood friend summarized his early life for the local newspaper “Tampa Bay Times” in 2018 as follows:

It remains to be seen whether he will achieve his goal.

Trump’s Long Shadow

DeSantis’ first political office was in 2012 as a representative of Florida’s sixth congressional district. During this tenure, he was a frequent guest on Fox News. He appeared to be successful: in 2016 he was re-elected.

When Trump became president in 2017, DeSantis was one of his most outspoken supporters. In return, Trump pledged his support when DeSantis announced he would run for governor of Florida — which he went on to win in 2018. At the time, Trump announced him as a “brilliant young leader”. According to Washington Post sources, Trump is said to have said of DeSantis:

But the initial sympathy between the two Republicans has been reversed: Ron DeSantis has a Trump problem today. Or Trump has a problem with DeSantis: The ex-president accuses the governor of being successful only because he imitates him, as Rolling Stone writes. The magazine also quotes a staunch Republican:

DeSantis’ challenge in the presidential races in the coming months will be to keep the former president by his side, as Trump still wields some influence from the king. At the same time, he must maintain sufficient distance to appeal to conservative voters who have turned their backs on Trump. And so a column in the National Review—the bible of American conservatism—said that DeSantis was the “true leader of the opposition.” And he is credited with pursuing conservative concerns that other politicians shy away from.

To this day, DeSantis has handily dodged the question of whether he believed the last election was “stolen.” But he has not yet dared to openly confront Trump. His head of communications for the re-election campaign, Stephan Lawson, told ABC a few weeks ago:

Unlike the ex-president, the Florida man at least manages to attract attention without being insulting.

the hardliner

Despite everything, DeSantis is a soft Trump clone when it comes to his politics. Former Republican Congressman David Joll wrote in the Washington Post in September:

Here’s how DeSantis blew the opponent’s pipe off the mask during the worst days of the Covid 19 pandemic. The “Free State of Florida” must remain independent of pointless restrictions from Washington, DeSantis said. Everyone should be free to decide what they want to do for their own health.

His views on education are arch-conservative: He supported an effort to ban new math books in his state and signed a controversial Florida bill that curtails discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools — nicknamed ‘Don’t Say Gay’ . bear the law. Since DeSantis became governor, transgender children are no longer allowed to participate in girls’ sports. Girls should participate in girls’ sports and boys in boys’ sports. Recently, students and professors at universities have had to declare their political affiliations so that “subliminal leftist ideologies” can be eliminated in education.

Catholic DeSantis also weighed in on the abortion debate: After the US Supreme Court overturned federal abortion laws in June, DeSantis vowed to “extend the protection of life in Florida.” And he signed a ban on abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy – without exception for rape or incest. The Republican governor is expected to push for a heartbeat law in the near future that would ban most abortions after six weeks, several US newspapers report.

In September, DeSantis was criticized for airlifting unsuspecting migrants to the wealthy Democratic Massachusetts town of Martha’s Vineyard, in what many critics view as a vicious political ploy to appease right-wing anti-immigration groups. He described the action as a “resettlement action”. The Treasury Department is investigating whether he misused federal funds for pandemic relief.

Much of what DeSantis says should not be taken lightly, because like Trump, the arch-conservative politician has a tendency to lie or exaggerate. The US journalistic investigation and verification project Politifact has exposed many of its public statements as “false” or “largely inaccurate”.

Despite all these stances, Joll says Trump shows no mercy to his critics or political opponents, while DeSantis at least tries to put politics first when the occasion calls for it. Biden critic DeSantis, for example, praised current President Joe Biden for declaring a state of emergency in the run-up to Hurricane Ian — freeing up federal funds for Florida so authorities could coordinate their relief efforts.

The presidential candidate

DeSantis’ re-election could affect presidential rivalry. The Americas expert at the University of St. Gallen, Claudia Franziska Brühwiler, tells Watson:

Incidentally, Trump announced in the current midterm elections that his vote also went to DeSantis.

With reports of resentment smoldering beneath the surface, it remains to be seen how long Trump and DeSantis can avoid open conflict over their party’s leadership. watson analyst Philipp Löpfe writes: