Ron DeSantis (45) was praised by Republican experts and politicians after he was re-elected as governor of Florida in a landslide in 2022. He could be the one who saved the Republicans from the ungovernable Trump, strategists in the party believed. The one who fought on against immigration, Black Lives Matter and the state apparatus in Washington. Millions of dollars poured into his campaign long before it was officially launched. Without a twinkle in his eye But Ron DeSantis doesn’t look like Donald Trump. I saw that myself up close when I followed him for a week in Florida last year. He smiled less, seemed cold and aggressive. Trump without a twinkle in his eye. Ron DeSantis. Photo: CHENEY ORR / Reuters In Florida, DeSantis is known as a warrior. He has banned teaching about sexual orientation in public schools and fought for a ban on abortion from the sixth week. But on the national stage there have been few victories. The launch of his campaign in May ended in a social media meltdown. He also had such a bad relationship with many American journalists that he never got the press coverage he needed. More fun with Trump DeSantis would thus be a more effective version of Donald Trump. But Republican voters don’t seem interested in that version. They would rather have the original. Photo: Charles Krupa / AP Photo: Charles Krupa / AP Republican strategist Kristen Soltis Anderson said it wisely in a podcast last week. With Donald Trump, the party’s voters know what they are getting. They seem to have decided that what they like about Trump outweighs what they don’t. Also, Trump is entertaining. And Republican voters like Trump to be funny. They like to look at him. Many sympathize with him and think he is like a cozy grandfather with sly comments. Ron DeSantis is not like that. Yesterday it was over for him. DeSantis ends his improbable race to become the Republican presidential nominee, before the first proper nomination election in New Hampshire. At the same time, he stands behind Donald Trump. And Trump is the one likely to get DeSanti’s votes when voters go to the polls on Tuesday. Now the red signs with DeSantis’ name are being taken away. That will be an advantage for Trump. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / news Haley’s last chance? Now only two candidates remain when the nomination process begins in earnest. Donald Trump vs. Nikki Haley. The Iowa caucuses last week were a test run. Only 15 percent of Republican voters in the state participated. In New Hampshire, participation will be higher in relation to the population. Nikki Haley is betting everything here, where the average Republican voter is less Christian and more educated than in many other states. news met Nikki Haley in Iowa. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / news But Haley is fighting against the odds here too, even though several polls show that she would beat Joe Biden, much more clearly than Trump, if there were an election today. It would be a bit of a sensation if she manages to win in New Hampshire. Trump increases his lead, according to a recent poll from CNN. Haley has become the candidate of the establishment and is being compared to former President George W. Bush. There is no winning recipe in today’s Republican Party. Uses Indian name She also has to endure increasingly harsh attacks from Trump, often wrapped in sarcastic comments. In recent days, Trump has several times referred to Haley as Nimbra or Nimrada. Haley, who is the daughter of Indian immigrants, is actually called Nimarata Nikki. But the former governor and UN ambassador has long used only his middle name. Trump is accused of making racist attacks to a majority white electorate. Haley has hit back by saying that such attacks show how insecure Trump feels in the election campaign. But the question is whether it helps. Nikki Haley in New Hampshire on Saturday. Photo: Joseph Prezioso / AFP Election deniers in the majority Because it is not easy to compete with a sitting president in the United States A majority of 66 percent of those who voted in Iowa last week believe that it was Donald Trump who actually won the election in 2020. They voted for what they believe to be an incumbent president. And statistics in the US show that sitting presidents are most often re-elected. Then it might not help that the US already has a rightfully elected president from another party. Will not vote for anyone else Another disadvantage for those challenging Trump is that he is a super celebrity. This celebrity factor is very clear to the journalists covering his election campaign. People don’t line up outside in the cold for hours to see Nikki Haley. But outside Trump’s meetings there is always a queue. And many of those I talk to in the queues repeat one thing: No one above, no one to the side. They want Donald Trump because he is NOT a politician. They will not vote for anyone else. And it’s not just white voters who say that. Tutu Khadiatta. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas In a Trump queue, I recently met several immigrants from Central America and a young engineer from the Congo. Tutu Khadiatta said he is working on a doctorate and became an American citizen three years ago. Soon he will vote in his first presidential election in the United States. He explained that he was a Trump fan even before he moved here from Africa. – Now that I have become an American, it is important to vote for Donald Trump. Because Trump does everything he says he will do, said Tutu Khadiatta. Interested in what’s happening in the world? Listen to news’s foreign editors’ weekly podcast:
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DeSantis would be the new Trump. But the voters want the original – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
