Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Ron DeSantis rocks the RNC crowd with familiar lines, fulsome praise for Donald Trump

By A.G. Gancarski on July 16, 2024

The man who would have been President spoke instead on the second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

"Let's make the 45th President of the United States the 47th President of the United States," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.

DeSantis, who ran a challenge to Donald Trump from the right before endorsing the former President in January, addressed the RNC crowd Tuesday, directly after his fellow challenger and Primary rival, Nikki Haley.

"Let's send Joe Biden back to his basement and let's send Donald Trump back to the White House," DeSantis said to cheers, eliciting a smile from Trump.

DeSantis contrasted Trump's record with Biden's, who has "failed the nation."

"As a veteran, I was appalled when 13 of our service members were killed in Afghanistan due to Joe Biden's dereliction of duty. As a citizen, husband, and father, I am alarmed that the current President of the United States lacks the capability to discharge the duties of his office. Our enemies do not confine their designs to between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m," DeSantis said. "Our country can't afford four more years of a Weekend at Bernie's presidency."

After drawing laughter from Trump in the audience, DeSantis then painted Biden as a "tool" and a "figurehead" for a leftist agenda that includes unbridled illegal immigration, activist prosecutors, banning gasoline powered automobiles, and imposing gender ideology "on everyone from our infantry men to kindergarteners."

Familiar lines, like his explanation of DEI as "division, exclusion, and indoctrination," elicited thunderous applause.

"Donald Trump stands in their way, and he stands up for America," DeSantis said. "We cannot let him down, and we cannot let America down."

Though DeSantis' road to the White House would seem to be foreclosed by JD Vance getting the Vice Presidential nomination, the Governor's familiar lines and arguments seemed to resonate with a national crowd, suggesting that despite his loss in the primaries, his future is still in front of him.