Wednesday 16 November 2022 06:14 AM DeSantis gets rapturous reception amid re-election triumph - moments before ... trends now

Ron DeSantis on Tuesday evening received a rapturous reception from his fellow Republican governors - boasting that he had the answers for their party, as 200 miles south Donald Trump was officially launching his presidential campaign.

DeSantis, 44, is widely expected to launch his own 2024 campaign in the spring, and challenge Trump, 76, for the candidacy.

And while Trump used his Mar-a-Lago speech on Tuesday to hit back at his critics within the party and insist that his strategy in the midterms was effective, DeSantis was able to point to a truly triumphant campaign.

DeSantis was resoundingly re-elected as Florida governor last week, even winning in Democrat strongholds such as parts of Miami.

Asked before his Orlando speech, at another event in Fort Walton Beach, how he felt about Trump's launch, DeSantis replied: 'At the end of the day, I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night.'

DeSantis then told the governors how his work in Florida could be replicated nationwide.

He received an 'enthusiastic' response, a source told Fox News, as he 'recapped the Florida blueprint and the path to winning Hispanics, women, and independents.' 

DeSantis used his speech to trumpet his own 'impressive re-election campaign', and detailed his culture war battles against the 'woke curriculum'.

Trump was not mentioned in his Tuesday night speech.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump was excoriated by Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who was initially an advisor to the then-president.

Christie, the former chair of the Republican Governors Association, pointed out that there were 31 GOP governors when he left the role in 2014, compared to 26 now. 

He criticized Trump for picking candidates purely on loyalty rather than policies or electoral potential.

Hours later, Trump defied advice from his aides to officially announce he is running for president for the third time.

He made the declaration in a Mar-a-Lago speech attacking President Biden, the 'radical left' Democrats and their record on the economy and the world stage in the two years since he left office.

The former president ignored Republican critics and those who blamed him for the GOP's disappointing midterms to go full steam on stating his intent to be back in the Oval Office to 'drain the swamp' with the country 'being destroyed before our very lives'. 

'In order to make America great and glorious again, I am today announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,' he confirmed to huge cheers before laying into the FBI raid, the 'fake' dossier', the 'deep state' and lobbyists.

Despite not formally making his announcement until later in the speech, Trump made his intentions clear from the outset by telling his audience: 'America's comeback starts right now.'

'Three years ago when I left office, the United States stood ready for its golden age. Our nation was at the pinnacle of power, prosperity and prestige - towering above all rivals vanquishing all enemies and striding into the future confident, resourceful,' Trump said.

He vowed to make his run about working people, restoring American energy independence, reforming elections to make sure there are 'only paper ballots' and restoring an 'agenda of greatness' with top Republicans and the media saying he should stay out of the race.

Trump peppered his speech with various campaign promises, some of which are similar to statements he's made in campaign-style rallies this year. He said he would hand the death penalty to drug dealers, ban transgender women from playing female sports, plant an American flag on Mars, build a nuclear 'missile shield', and rehire service members who were fired for being unvaccinated.

'This will not be my campaign. This will be our campaign all together. Because the only force strong enough to defeat the massive corruption we are up against is you, the American people,' he said while celebrating the last six years of the MAGA movement, his midterm endorsements and his battle against Washington.

After months of speculation and with mounting legal battles, he filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission just moments before he began his speech to fired-up supporters at Mar-a-Lago where he said America 'can't take' four more years of Biden.

'The decline of America is being forced upon us by Biden and the radical left lunatics running our government right into the ground,' Trump said. 

In his stately ballroom with opulent gold trimmings and chandeliers, he was introduced as the 'next president' to chants of 'USA'.

Speaking for just over an hour, Trump made defiant and sometimes somber remarks about the state of the country, hours after Mitch McConnell said independent voters  had the 'impression of many of the people in our party and leadership roles is that they are involved in chaos'.

The former president went on to attack Biden for record inflation, 'falling asleep at global conferences' and making the U.S. 'detestable' with the rest of the world. He celebrated Nancy Pelosi getting 'fired' with Republicans on the cusp of taking the House majority. 

But taking a page out of his White House successor's 2020 playbook, Trump vowed to 'unify people' and claimed he did so during his last term.

'It happened in the previous administration,' Trump said. 'And what was bringing them together was success.'

The crowd roared when he and Melania Trump arrived to the tune of his signature theme, Lee Greenwood's God Bless The USA. 

Before that, applause rang out for the arrival of his family members - Eric Trump, his wife Lara, Trump's youngest child Barron, 16, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Kushner, who served as a White House advisor during Trump's last term, raised eyebrows by arriving without his wife Ivanka - who released a statement after the speech that she loved her father but was 'choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family' and would stay 'out of the political arena.'

Tiffany Trump, who just got married at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, was also not present. Nor was Donald Trump Jr., who was on a hunting trip and could not catch a flight in time to attend the event due to bad weather, according to RealClearPolitics. 

Trump said Afghanistan was the most 'embarrassing moment in the history of our country' and tore into the Biden administration border policies that have led to an 'invasion' and fentanyl 'pouring' into our country. 

'We are here tonight to declare that it does not have to be this way - it does not have to be this way - two years ago we were a great nation and soon we will be a great nation again,' he added.

'The only force strong enough to defeat the massive corruption we are up against it's you, the American people', he went on. 'It's not about politics, it's about love for this great nation'.

In a line he has used before, he told the audience: 'I didn't need this. I had an easy life'. 

'This is something I didn't need, and a lot of you people don't need either, but we have to take care of our country. We love our country, we need to save our country,' the former president said. 

Trump also threw his weight behind Herschel Walker ahead of his Georgia run-off on December 6 against Raphael Warnock for the final Senate seat up for grabs. 

'We must all work very hard for a gentleman and a great person named Herschel Walker, he will be a great United States senator,' the ex-president said. 'Get out and vote for Herschel and he deserves it. He was an incredible athlete, he'll be an even better senator.'

But he'll be hitting the campaign trail without Ivanka as a surrogate, despite her being one of the more popular members of his last administration.

'I love my father very much. This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics,' she wrote in a statement after the speech.

'While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside of the political arena. I am grateful to have had the honor of serving the American people and I will always be proud of many of our Administration's accomplishments.' 

South Carolina GOP Senator Lindsey Graham was among the first of Trump's supporters to laud the announcement.

'If President Trump continues this tone and delivers this message on a consistent basis, he will be hard to beat. His speech tonight, contrasting his policies and results against the Biden Administration, charts a winning path for him in the primaries and general election,' Graham wrote on Twitter. 

Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, who served as the White House physician for multiple presidents including Trump, tweeted: 'Trump just announced he's running for President in 2024. THIS IS HISTORIC.' 

Trump's announcement comes the same day as a new poll showed the ex-president with a commanding lead in a field of potential 2024 candidates, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has yet to rule out his own White House campaign against Trump.

The former president has responded by calling the governor 'disloyal,' 'average' and 'Ron DeSanctimonious' amid a flurry of other insults.

Asked about that criticism on Tuesday, DeSantis suggested he was unfazed - but went out of his way to target 'the corporate media' more directly than the former president.

'When you're leading, when you're getting things done, yeah you take incoming fire - that's just the nature of it,' DeSantis said.

'I roll out of bed in the morning, I've got corporate media outlets just having a spasm over the fact that I'm getting up in the morning. And it's constantly attacking, and this is just what's happened.'

He continued, 'I think what you learn is, all that's just noise. And really what matters is - are you leading, are you getting in front of issues, are you delivering results for people and are you standing up for folks? And if you do that, then none of that stuff matters.'

But DeSantis added as a final jab, 'At the end of the day, I would just tell people to check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night.'

Hours before the former president took the stage, advisers and allies like Jason Miller, Boris Epshteyn and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell milled about the room.

Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich was also present.

Jason Miller told reporters that Trump would be laying out 'all the campaign mechanics' on Tuesday night.

'Right now this is his vision, this is what his message is,' Miller said. 'Tonight and this week is really about his message.'

He added that President Joe Biden, who is assumed to be running for re-election but has not yet declared, is not making a splash among his own party with the idea of another campaign.

'Democrats aren't too excited about his prospects, and you have President Trump with a strong clear vision to get the economy back on track,' Miller said.

Lindell fielded questions from outlets including DailyMail.com just before 6pm on Tuesday - three hours before the show was set to start.

'If he said now - announces he's running, 70 percent of America wants him to run for president because he's still our real president,' the entrepreneur said.

Asked about DeSantis' potential challenge to Trump, Lindell scoffed, 'Are you for real?'

'If says he's running - 100% even DeSantis, I believe, will say yes, I endorse him, because it's a waste of time for anybody to run against the greatest president we've ever had,' he later said.

Lindell, a prominent promoter of Trump's 2020 election fraud claims, called Republicans' failure to clinch a red wave in the 2022 midterm elections 'a joke' and a 'set up' when asked by DailyMail.com.

Lindell expressed that he believed the Democratic sweep of the Senate was evidence of another rigged election.

The GOP's lackluster performance in the 2022 midterm elections gave some in the party pause about Trump's Tuesday announcement even before the event started.

Establishment figures, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, turned against the former president for endorsing fringe-right candidates who failed to gain traction with Independent and moderate voters in key races across the country.

But 47 percent of likely Republican voters still want Trump at the top of the ticket, according to a new post-election poll from Politico/Morning Consult taken between November 10 and 14.

DeSantis comes in second, trailing Trump by double-digits with 33 percent of the hypothetical vote.

Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence was polling at just 5 percent - with a number of prominent Republicans hovering around 1 percent.

Outside Mar-a-Lago supporters gathered in anticipation, while foes of the ex-president paid to have airplanes fly over the private club trolling Trump with banners including 'You Lost Again Donald! #DeSantis2014' and '3X BIGLY LOSER.'

The Republicans in line to take on Trump in 2024: Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence and Nikki Haley lead list of favorites to run for the GOP (but what will they do now he has entered the race?) 

Donald Trump is once again running for president, setting off the 2024 campaign cycle with a flourish even before the last ballots of the 2022 election have been counted.

The former president announced his intent to run for the 2024 GOP nomination on Tuesday night in a lavish reception at his Mar-a-Lago retreat with invited guests, lawmakers and members of the press.

But while Trump lays out his campaign trail at his Florida estate, his polarizing status even within his own party has election-watchers buzzing about who in the Republican Party would step up to challenge him.

Furthermore, a poor GOP performance in the midterms has many establishment figures pointing the finger at Trump for endorsing fringe-right candidates against moderate opponents in Republican primaries all over the country. 

DailyMail.com has compiled a list of eight likely Republican 2024 candidates who could potentially challenge Trump for leadership of the party in 2024.

Mike Pence: Former VP who has distanced himself from Trump and said there were 'better choices' for 2024 

Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, told ABC News in a Monday night interview that there were 'better choices' than his old running mate in 2024 and that he was giving his own White House bid 'prayerful consideration.'

But he demurred when asked about his odds of beating Trump in a primary, emphasizing that it would be up to the voters.

Still, Pence has dropped numerous hints that he's surveying the 2024 field. Pence also blasted Trump for his conduct on January 6, calling the angry tweets he published while his supporters were storming the US Capitol 'reckless.'

Asked whether he'd support Trump in 2024 during a speech at Georgetown University last month, Pence said: 'There might be somebody else I'd prefer more.'

He's also addressing American voters directly in a CNN town hall on Wednesday night. 

Early GOP voters polls, however, indicate that there may not be enough support for Pence. Most surveys show the ex-veep trailing Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

Ron DeSantis: The Republican's rising star after his emphatic Florida win - who is already in a war of words with Trump

Ron DeSantis cruised to a commanding victory last Tuesday, winning a second term against House Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist despite only a narrow victory for the Tallahassee governor's mansion in 2018.

Overall, his state of Florida saw Republicans over-perform compared to the rest of the country - and some pundits are crediting DeSantis' influence on the GOP.

DeSantis has embraced Trump's 'America First,' combative style of politics that's seen him and his deputies make headline for clashes with the Biden administration, LGBTQ

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