DeSantis plans to announce 2024 bid Wednesday on Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk, sources tell AP
UPDATE: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to announce his 2024 presidential campaign in a Twitter Spaces event with Elon Musk on Wednesday. That's according to two people with knowledge of the plans who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday because they weren't authorized to discuss it publicly.
Musk seemed to confirm the news Tuesday in London, saying DeSantis would be making "quite an announcement' on Twitter on Wednesday. He called it "the first time something like this is happening on social media," with real time questions and answers. DeSantis is seen as Donald Trump's leading rival for the 2024 GOP nomination.
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It might seem unlikely at the moment for one of them to accept the less-influential vice presidential slot but a recent Rasmussen survey showed that if the election were held today, a Trump/DeSantis ticket would defeat a Biden/Harris ticket 51%to 43% in the popular vote.
Sen. Scott called 'first-rate' pick for V.P. slotChad Groening, AFN.net An expert on U.S. politics says Sen. Tim Scott would make an excellent vice presidential candidate if Donald Trump wins the GOP nomination. As we have reported on AFN, the South Carolina lawmaker has announced he is officially running for president in 2024. After the announcement, Trump congratulated the Senator with “good luck” and pointed out they worked together on “Opportunity Zones” for minority communities. 
“It is rapidly loading up with lots of people,” Trump wrote, referring to the GOP primary, “and Tim is a big step up from Ron DeSanctimonious, who is totally unelectable.” Dr. Charles Dunn, emeritus professor of government at Clemson University, predicts Sen. Scott will be high on the list for a V.P. slot if Trump wins the nomination. “This is a first-rate pick,” he says of Scott. “You couldn't ask for a better pick." |
Tom Zawistowski, president of the tea party-affiliated We the People Convention, commissioned the survey along with the Constitutional Rights PAC. One key takeaway from the poll, he tells AFN, is Trump-DeSantis puts them over the 50% mark.
“It’s simple: Trump as president, DeSantis as vice president, is the winning ticket – bar none,” he says. “No combination you can poll does better.”
In online comments and social media posts, a Trump-DeSantis presidential ticket is a common theme from Trump supporters. Despite their opposition to DeSantis, they view it as a generous compromise for the Florida governor after Trump was robbed of second term. Their idea is not shared by many DeSantis supporters, however, who believe DeSantis is the stronger of the two Republican candidates. DeSantis supporters have also watched Trump mock him, and even threaten him with embarrassing details, if the Florida governor officially enters the primary race this week as he is expected to do.
At the moment, Trump and DeSantis are currently trading barbs over a six-week abortion ban signed by the GOP governor. Trump has suggested that ban is too harsh, and claimed pro-life activists agree with him, to which DeSantis pushed back.
At the bill signing ceremony, DeSantis said “protecting an unborn child when there’s a detectable heartbeat is something that almost probably 99 percent of pro-lifers support.”
Bob Vander Plaats, who leads Iowa-based group Family Leader, tells AFN polling suggests a vast majority of pro-lifers favor such restrictions, if not a total ban.
“It's a confusing response by the former president,” says Vander Plaats, “but I think it does put a lot of cause for pause in the pro-life community in their support for the former president.”
Up until now Trump has been a hero to pro-lifers, who credit his Supreme Court picks for overturning Roe v Wade, Vander Plaats says, but the attack on DeSantis over the six-week law “undercuts” Trump’s pro-life convictions and is a cause for concern among the pro-life community.
As for why the former president would risk alienating his strongest supporters, Vander Plaats says Trump’s inability to restrain himself from a personal attack got the better of him.
Compare that comment about Trump’s well-documented habit of making juvenile attacks, such as "Ron DeSanctimonious," with Zawistowki’s accusation that Trump supporters aren’t interested in a Trump-DeSantis ticket that can win back the White House.
“The people behind DeSantis, they're not really interested in that,” the Ohio activist argues. “They're only interested in stopping Trump and really stopping us, the people, who believe in making America great again."
Regarding a Trump-DeSantis ticket, longtime conservative activist Gary Bauer calls that a "grand slam home run" in the 2023 presidential race. He acknowledges, however, that politics is a cut-throat sports.
"My hope and prayer is that DeSantis and Trump do not go after each other with such gusto," he tells AFN, "that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for them to ultimately form a presidential ticket that could very well win and win handily."
