DeSantis rallies Republicans with attack on left’s ‘woke mind virus’

Florida governor Ron DeSantis hits out at ‘lockdown politicians’ during a roadshow to California in a further sign he is preparing to run for US president.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Picture: Getty

Ron DeSantis hit out at “lockdown politicians” infected with a “woke mind virus” as the Florida governor took a roadshow tied to the publication of his book to California in a further sign that he is preparing to run for US president.

DeSantis, 44, paid homage to a former Republican president by making a foray into the Golden State, a Democratic stronghold, and speaking at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, near Los Angeles.

He was attacked as a “globalist” and branded “DeSanctus” by Donald Trump, as the former president road-tested another nickname for the man considered his main rival.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks about his new book at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Picture: Getty

Trump has already declared his candidacy for the Republican 2024 nomination and DeSantis has told The Times that he will announce his intentions after the Florida legislative session ends on May 5. Trump was eight points ahead of DeSantis in a Yahoo News/YouGov poll of Republicans; Emerson put Trump ahead by 30 points; and Fox News by 15 points.

“We’ve witnessed a great American exodus from states governed by leftist politicians imposing leftist ideologies and delivering poor results,” DeSantis told an audience of 1,100, saying that his anti-lockdown policies had contributed to inward migration to his state.

“You can see massive gains in states like Florida, who are governing according to the tried and true principles that President Reagan held dear,” he said, reprising one theme of his book, The Courage to Be Free.

DeSantis avoided direct criticism of Trump, 76, but still managed to make his self-promotion sound like an attack. “You don’t see drama and palace intrigue,” DeSantis said of his governorship in Florida, a point that could be read as a dividing line with the drama of the Trump administration. “You see surgical precision and execution.”

DeSantis is expected to take his roadshow this week to Iowa, the first state in the nation to choose between Republican contenders in its caucus at the end of January next year. California’s own primary election is quite early in the calendar, on March 5, 2024 and could be one of the decisive votes.

DeSantis came to national prominence during the pandemic by resisting restrictions and masks to keep businesses and schools open. “It caused people to re-evaluate who is in charge of their state government more than any other event in my lifetime,” he said.

A sign near the Reagan Library was defaced by a protester, however, with the words “Ron DeFascist”.

Trump has spent a lot of time trying to come up with nicknames to deride the Florida governor. Having considered Ron DisHonest, Ron DeEstablishment and Tiny D, the main one Trump uses is Ron DeSanctimonious “even though others around him don’t think it’s a bullseye”, Bloomberg News said.

In a sign of the fallow environment for Republicans perceived as too moderate, Larry Hogan, the two-term former governor of Maryland, announced that he would not be standing in the 2024 primary contest. “The stakes are too high for me to risk being part of another multicar pile-up that could potentially help Mr Trump recapture the nomination,” Hogan, 66, wrote in The New York Times.

The Times