Free Republic

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is pushing a tough-on-crime agenda ahead of an expected presidential bid with his support for two bills in the state legislature, including one that would challenge the U.S. Supreme Court. DeSantis is backing a bill that would authorize the death penalty for child rapists. Under the legislation, a jury - by a vote of at least 8-4 - can recommend a death sentence for sexual battery on a child under age 12. 'We are authorizing the death penalty for child rapists,' DeSantis said Monday morning during an interview with an Orlando radio state. 'My view is...

A jury has found that Donald Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll. The panel of six men and three women also found that Trump injured advice columnist Carroll in a Manhattan Bergdorf Goodman dressing room and defamed her, ordering the former President to pay her $5million in damages. Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct or assault by more than two dozen women, but this has so far been the only case to end up before a jury. Carroll, 79, sued for battery under the Adult Survivors Act, a law passed in New York that allowed a one year window...

Can Ron DeSantis beat Donald Trump? In the game of presidential politics, well-known front-runners often falter and up-and-comers often win—Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton, and Jimmy Carter came from nowhere to beat establishment figures such as Rep. Mo Udall and Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson. When Mr. Trump was the challenger, he polished off Jeb Bush, the Florida governor who once led the pack. The DeSantis ship is clearly listing and must right itself. I wouldn’t normally give advice to a Republican candidate, but someone has to stop Donald Trump from regaining the presidency, and I wouldn’t count on President Biden...

Ex-president Donald Trump spent an hour on Friday talking to his former adviser Steve Bannon during which he bashed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and claimed that Republican donors are abandoning the not-yet-declared 2024 presidential candidate and flocking to the Trump campaign. Trump has been doing long interviews with right-wing talk hosts to promote his new book. Last week Fox’s Mark Levin spent an hour with Trump on the subject, and on Friday it was Trump’s former adviser Bannon, who hosts a daily show on the Real America’s Voice network. Trump lit into DeSantis, as he does routinely to the governor...

The Florida House passed a bill on Friday with a 76-34 vote that would permit the state leader to run for the presidency without stepping down from their current position. The bill’s approval comes only a few days after it was passed in the state Senate by a vote of 28 to 12. The bill is now on its way to Governor Ron DeSantis’ desk for approval. The timing of the bill’s approval and Governor DeSantis’ potential presidential announcement adds to the uniqueness of the situation.

UK captains of industry lambast ‘low-wattage’ US presidential hopeful.One U.K. business figure said DeSantis “looked bored” and “stared at his feet” as he met with titans of British industry in an event co-hosted by Lloyd’s of London — the world’s largest insurance marketplace.“He had been to five different countries in five days and he definitely looked spent, but his message wasn’t presidential,” they told POLITICO. “He was horrendous.”

As expected, the Florida Senate has passed the Ron DeSantis is a liar law, permitting the Florida Governor to run without resigning, by a vote of 28-12. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – The Florida Senate approved an election overhaul bill Wednesday 28-12, which included a clarification to the “resign-to-run” law. The change would exempt officeholders seeking the position of U.S. president or vice president from the state’s “resign-to-run” law. (read more) Meanwhile, NBC is breaking exclusive news the Ron DeSantis team plan to launch the official announcement mid-May. Several weeks ago, after one of the official campaign contractors was hired, CTH...

“We will defeat the cult of gender ideology, and we will reassert the timeless truth that God created two genders, male and female,” he said. “We will defend our culture. We will reassert the Judeo-Christian values of our nation’s founding.” But Trump’s actions in 2012 appeared to be in contrast to weekend statements when he overruled the rejection of Jenna Talackova, a transgender beauty queen who entered the Miss Universe Canada competition. Talackova, then 23, was originally denied because she was not born a biological female, according to a past report. She and her lawyer at the time, Gloria Allred,...

New Hampshire's uber-popular Republican governor Chris Sununu put it plainly on NBC's Meet the Press: "Donald Trump is a loser." Before that, Sununu had rightly rebuked all the pundits who say the GOP presidential nomination for 2024 is a done deal. "Most folks don’t decide who they are voting for until about three weeks before the election," he said. And he is right. At this time, a year before the 2008 election, Hillary Clinton was the odds-on favorite to be the Democratic nominee. She lost to Barack Obama. At this time, 28 months before the 2016 election, polls showed the...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Saturday he will request a Major Disaster Declaration for Broward County due to the catastrophic impacts of unprecedented flooding in Fort Lauderdale. The announcement comes 10 days after heavy rainfall caused historic flooding that damaged countless homes and left residents reeling in the devastation. DeSantis' request comes after Florida Democrats criticized his response time and claimed he went missing in action while people in Broward County suffered.

A super PAC supporting Ron DeSantis has a suggestion for Donald Trump.NEVER BACK DOWN is telling the former President that if he doesn’t love Florida, he ought to get as far away as possible.“Donald Trump has so deeply disparaged the state of Florida by calling it the ‘worst state,’ we at Never Back Down will help him leave by offering financial assistance to help him move to his beloved California, so he can be close to his good buddy Gavin Newsom, whom he loves so intensely and gets along with so well.”“The good news is that since so many people...

Throughout the pandemic conservatives (and even disaffected Democrats and independents) vacationed in and moved to the “Free State of Florida” in record numbers, attracted to relatively affordable housing and, well, freedom. Donald Trump spends the vast majority of his time there, escaping the New York winters, over-taxation, and politically-motivated, unscrupulous prosecutors. But according to an email he sent out Friday, the state is a hellhole.Atop the email was this statement from Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign spokesman.“The real DeSantis record is one of misery and despair. He has left a wake of destruction all across Florida and people are hurting because...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will travel to four countries overseas as part of an international trade mission as he prepares to make a decision on whether to enter the 2024 Republican presidential primary. DeSantis will travel to Israel, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. The Florida governor will meet with business and government leaders such as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, a press release detailed. “This trade mission will give us the opportunity to strengthen economic relationships and continue to demonstrate Florida’s position as an economic...

AdChoices Daily Mail Daily Mail Trump tells Disney to move OUT of Florida in their war with Ron DeSantis Story by Katelyn Caralle, U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com • 1h ago Donald Trump took Disney World's side in the company's war with Ron DeSantis He suggested that the company could move out Florida amid the conflict Walt Disney Co. is a massive donor to pro-Trump America First Action Donald Trump has urged Disney to leave Florida in a move that would be a financial 'killer' for Ron DeSantis. The former president said the Florida Governor and potential 2024 presidential rival...

Donald Trump's campaign team has dismissed the finding of a poll that suggests Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would be the preferred 2024 Republican candidate against Joe Biden in key swing states. A survey from GOP firm Public Opinion Strategies shows that DeSantis, who has not confirmed he is running for president but is expected to do so soon, would beat Biden in Arizona and Pennsylvania in a hypothetical 2024 face-off by 48 to 42 percent and 45 percent to 42 percent respectively. The poll of 500 registered voters in Arizona and Pennsylvania also showed that Trump would lose to Biden...

Critics are slamming a powerful GOP committee and Donald Trump Jr. after apparent attempts to squelch widespread boycotts of Bud Light over its partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney. Trump Jr. called for an end to the boycotts of the beer last week, citing how Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, has a history of donating to Republicans. On Saturday, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) quietly deleted a tweet and fundraising page where people could donate money and receive a drink koozie, the Daily Beast reported Saturday. "Thanks to Dylan Mulvaney, we can all finally admit that Bud Light tastes...

WASHINGTON (TND) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will head to the nation's capital next week to meet with congressional Republicans ahead of his expected announcement to run for president in 2024. The National Desk (TND) has independently verified that the Republican governor of the Sunshine State will participate in a policy discussion in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, hosted by a nonprofit backing DeSantis as the GOP's next presidential candidate called "And to the Republic." The event is being put on in partnership with the conservative Heritage Foundation. Well-known Republican lawmakers such as, Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., Darin LaHood, R-Ill., Thomas...

Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill banning most abortions after six weeks, paving the way for drastic changes in access to the procedure across the state. Opponents argue six weeks is before many women know they are pregnant.

If Republicans step back and look beyond the legal and social-media spectacle of Donald J. Trump, they'll see screaming political sirens everywhere they gaze. Why it matters: The GOP's political trouble has been unfolding slowly but unmistakably, starting even before Trump's loss to Joe Biden in 2020. First, the 2018 House elections were a disaster for Republicans: Democrats had a net gain of 40 seats to take over the House — their largest gain since the post-Watergate election of 1974. Then Trump lost the presidency. Next, Republicans blew two runoff elections in Georgia and lost control of the U.S. Senate....

"There is no substitute for victory:In Florida, we have a culture of winning..."