Will Republican’s on the whole?
And….
Conservatives abandon “The Donald’ for the new model in Ron DeSantis?
In Florida?
DeSantis seems to be winning the battle…..
A growing legion of conservatives see DeSantis as what’s next in the party. Yet Trump’s popularity was clear on Saturday night when he spoke to thousands of young conservatives in Tampa and suggested he’s running for president.
“If I announced I was not going to run for office, the persecution of Donald Trump would immediately stop,” Trump said at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit. “But that’s what they want me to do. And you know what? There’s no chance I do that.”
Several recent polls have shown Republican voters moving away from Trump and inching toward DeSantis. The Florida governor, who has repeatedly said heis focusing on his 2022 re-election bid, is also beating Trump at fundraising.
In Hollywood, Fla., on the state’s Atlantic Coast, the Republican Party of Florida held its annual Sunshine Summit, a two-day event largely funded by money DeSantis raised for the Florida GOP. State Republicans including DeSantis gathered at the Seminole Hard Rock, where some of the state’s most prominent Republican officials held formal party business just yards away from bikini-clad hotel guests and gamblers playing slot machines.
More than 250 miles away, in Tampa, the conservative student organization Turning Point USA also held a summit that featured speeches from Rep.Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Fox News host Laura Ingraham and Trump, among others. The former president’s appearance came just a day after he held a rally in Prescott, Ariz., to support Kari Lake in her bid for governor there….
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DeSantis delivered a speech to the same Tampa crowd on Friday.
The Florida Republicans event in Hollywood, Fla., was much smaller than the Turning Point conference and was influenced heavily by DeSantis.
For the first time in the event’s seven-year history, it limited which media could attend, giving inside-the-room access to right-wing outlets that give the governor positive coverage. Traditional party figures were also largely replaced by the conservative social media influencers with massive followings who have recently moved to Florida and become some of DeSantis’ most vocal backers…
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The possible clash between the two is one of the major tension points within national Republican circles, as DeSantis, who rode a Trump endorsement in 2018 to win his party’s nomination for Florida Republican governor, has seen his popularity skyrocket, as was evidenced by his fans at the state Republican event.
“I love President Trump, but he is the boogeyman that Democrats use to run against. Without him they have nothing. No platform,” said James Lefebvre, an attendee at the Sunshine Summit, who was sitting at one of the Hard Rock’s restaurants asking passersby if they support DeSantis for president.
“I like an asshole as president, I really do, so it has nothing to do with that,” he added. “I just think DeSantis can unify people a bit more, and without him the Democrats have nothing.”…..