“Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Launches Presidential Campaign with Anti-Woke Speech in Iowa”

A speech by Ron DeSantis is made up of a single part, with no introduction or conclusion. It’s a back and forth sprint. The speech is delivered in a voice without affect, even when he evokes his own childhood – mother nurse, father installing boxes measuring the television audience – as if he were reading an assembly manual or a recipe.

Republican sympathizers gathered Tuesday, May 30 in an evangelical church west of Des Moines, in the state of Iowa, were however satisfied. They witnessed the real start of the Florida governor’s presidential campaign, after a chaotic virtual launch on Twitter a few days earlier. Ron DeSantis allowed himself short breaths to let the audience cheer him on. The applause was heard when he spoke about education.

Speaking in front of a large American flag, the candidate touted his legislative record in Florida, emphasizing his fight against “woke ideology” and the “cultural Marxism”. Ron DeSantis explained that“No American should participate in the Wokism Olympics in order to get a job or get into a school. » The governor talked about pornography in the books offered to children, the right of parents to supervise the educational curriculum,“indoctrination”. This insistence was appreciated by the public, white and rather old. She was drawing up a strategy to catch up with the favorite of the primaries, Donald Trump, on a theme that the ex-president never prized.

The fact that DeSantis chose Iowa to start his field campaign is hardly a surprise. Republican voters in this Midwestern state will be the first to vote in the primaries, probably at the end of January 2024, just before those in New Hampshire. Their decision, formalized during hundreds of public meetings (caucuses) held that day, will not necessarily predict the final outcome of the primaries. In 2016, Texas Senator Ted Cruz won Iowa, before being swept away by Donald Trump. But this State will be a decisive test of the capacity of the other competitors to put the ex-president in difficulty, he who feeds on adversity, political and judicial.

“We must end the culture of defeat that has infected the Republican Party in recent years”, hammered Ron DeSantis. He plans to devote a lot of time and money to Iowa, through his super PAC (public action committee) Never Back Down. Its inhabitants appreciate their special status in this national hearing. All the contenders are also expected this week on the roads of the State. Classic influx, full rooms. But curiosity is not worth support.

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