Ron DeSantis has barely entered the race for the White House when he takes on his competitor Donald Trump. But the ex-president knows how to defend himself.
Just over a week after submitting his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Ron DeSantis zeroes in on a possible weakness of his closest rival Donald Trump: the fact that the former president, if elected, will only have a four-year term in office.
“To put it bluntly, you really need two presidential terms to finish this job,” DeSantis called out to his supporters at the start of his campaign on Wednesday in Des Moines, Iowa, referring to the drastic reduction in the administrative apparatus . “The bureaucracy is so messed up that I think we can bring George Washington back and I don’t think he could fix it in a single four-year term.”
A day later, the Florida governor followed up: “When people say they’re going to destroy the ‘deep state’ in a day or six months, I’m sorry, but that’s something only a two-term president would do can,” DeSantis announced at a campaign date in Salem, New Hampshire. “The bureaucrats will just wait until you’re gone if you’re an expiring president. They’ll sit it out, and once you’re gone they’ll change everything and come back.”
Background of DeSantis’ attacks is the 22nd Amendment of the US Constitution. It states: “No one may be elected to the office of President more than twice.” Since Trump was already in the White House from 2017 to 2021, he could only be president for four more years.
Donald Trump scoffs at Ron DeSantis
If you believe the 76-year-old, a fraction of the time is enough for him to turn the country upside down again according to his ideas: “It will take me six months to put everything back the way it was,” Trump claimed on Thursday at one Campaign appearance at the Westside Conservative Club in Des Moines. “When he says eight years, I cringe every time I hear that,” the ex-president sneered at DeSantis. “Because they say if it takes eight years to change that, then they don’t want him as their president.”
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In an interview with conservative radio host Simon Conway, Trump reiterated his self-portrayal as a fast mover: “It doesn’t take me eight years. I can do this so quickly: lower inflation, lower interest rates, restart the economy. It will only take six months .” And in the direction of DeSantis, he taunted: “If I hear him say that it takes him eight years – if he needs eight years to change things, then you don’t want him as president. I can tell you that.”
But DeSantis also proved that he was not stupid. When told by an NBC reporter that Trump was claiming he could do in six months what the governor was taking eight years to do, Trump replied, “Then why didn’t he do it in his first four years?”
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Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
