A week before announcing his campaign for president in May, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a slate of bills that altered the lives of transgender people in his state.
Now, with just over five weeks before Republicans begin to weigh in on the presidential nominating fight, DeSantis has wielded those new laws to draw sharp contrasts with his GOP rivals and to appeal to social conservatives who could be key to sparking a strong finish for him in the Iowa caucuses.
The intense effort to push these issues to the forefront was laid bare minutes into Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate when DeSantis, in response to a question about his slipping poll numbers, accused former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley of opposing one of those laws: blocking transgender children from certain medical procedures that he likened to mutilation. Haley denied the charge.
The next morning, DeSantis pivoted again to the topic when asked whether he would send troops to the Middle East to rescue US hostages. He then continued to press his cause on the road for the next 48 hours.
“You have one conservative candidate running in this race and that is me at this point. That’s just the reality,” DeSantis said later Thursday in Iowa. “When we can’t even as Republicans agree that it’s wrong to chop off the private parts of a 14-year-old kid, what is going on in this party?”
Taking on the role of cultural warrior is not new for DeSantis, who rose within his party by seizing and then championing contentious issues the GOP base was eager to raise. It’s not one, however, that has convinced most conservative voters to turn away from former President Donald Trump. In some states, particularly New Hampshire, DeSantis’ hard turn right has endangered his chances of becoming the top alternative to Trump as moderates and Independents increasingly look toward other…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply