Ron DeSantis Is Showing the GOP a Different Path Forward
As Trump continues to fixate on a border wall, the new governor of Florida is choosing to focus on more substantive issues.
At every stage of his short career in Republican politics, Ron DeSantis, the newly inaugurated governor of Florida, has been exceptionally shrewd. It is therefore telling that as President Donald Trump’s approval rating drifts downward, he has spent his first weeks in office pivoting from unadulterated Trumpist bombast to dulcet suburban moderation. Don’t be surprised if other ambitious Republicans soon start following his lead.
First elected to Congress in 2012, DeSantis co-founded the House Freedom Caucus, which captured the insurrectionary mood of small-government conservatives in the Barack Obama years. Always quick to denounce out-of-control federal spending, he voted to shut down the federal government.
