Republican Ron DeSantis announces his candidacy for the US presidency for the year 2024, Wednesday, during a direct conversation via Twitter with Elon Musk, according to what an informed source told Agence France-Presse.
Twitter’s Musk immediately confirmed the news and told the Wall Street Journal, “I’m going to interview DeSantis and it’s going to be a big announcement.”
The conversation between the two men is scheduled to take place on Wednesday at 18:00 Washington time (22:00 GMT).
Florida Governor DeSantis is considered Donald Trump’s main challenger to win the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
The former US Navy officer was elected, with difficulty, in 2018 to be governor of the state of Florida in the southeast of the country, after receiving the support of Trump, who was president at the time.
But since then, he has distanced himself from the former president and increased his popularity through his very conservative stances on education or immigration.
However, DeSantis’ path to the White House was without many obstacles.
The 44-year-old governor, on whom many conservatives are betting in the upcoming presidential elections after his victorious re-election as governor of Florida in November 2022, is far behind Donald, who officially announced his candidacy on November 16, 2022, as many opinion polls show. .
He especially lacks charisma.
Donald Trump’s circles laughed at the manner in which DeSantis would announce his candidacy. “Announcing the candidacy via Twitter is perfect for DeSantis. That way he won’t have to interact with anyone,” a Trump adviser told AFP sarcastically.
– ‘Rigid campaign’ –
Donald Trump, who is facing many legal troubles, continues to denounce his exposure to a “crushing campaign” and is enthusiastically engaged in his second election campaign.
And the former US president confirms that he has collected several million dollars after his unprecedented conviction on the fourth of April by the New York court, which received massive media coverage.
In his showdown with Donald Trump, DeSantis can count on $110 million that he can use to try to make up for his delay by flooding the country with propaganda.
In a video released by his Political Action Committee, a man appears to put a sticker on a car saying “Desantis for President” and cover the “Trump 2016” logo with it.
This is the core of the message that the Florida governor wants to pass on to the voters, to the effect that he embodies the new guard in the face of the 76-year-old billionaire.
DeSantis and Trump are the favorites to win the Republican nomination.
The other announced Republican candidates, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott and Asa Hutchinson, rarely exceed 5% in opinion polls.
The battle is expected to be fierce. The mutual attacks between the two men began even before DeSantis entered the fray, with harsh statements and through campaign rallies.
The candidate chosen by the Republican Party, as a result of the primary elections in January 2024, will face the candidate of the Democratic Party.
So far, only writer Marian Williamson and Robert Kennedy Jr., nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, have nominated themselves in the Democratic camp, in the face of current President Joe Biden. However, the chance of them getting the Democratic Party card is very slim.
