DeSantis supporters eager for new leadership but still ‘love Trump’
Breccan F. Thies
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NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — Supporters of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) are eager for new leadership in the conservative movement but are not willing to leave former President Donald Trump behind.
DeSantis, who gave the keynote address to the Heritage Foundation‘s Leadership Summit as the think tank celebrates its 50th anniversary, was well received by attendees who tend to be more academic. They would not diminish Trump’s contributions to the conservative movement, but sought leadership with less “baggage.”
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“As a septuagenarian, I think we need to have septuagenarians and octogenarians move to the back of the room,” Ronald from Massachusetts told the Washington Examiner, preferring “politicians with the kind of energy DeSantis has.”
Like others the Washington Examiner spoke to Friday at the conservative event, the Republican declined to give his last name when speaking freely about politics to the media.
“We love Trump, we voted for Trump, but I think this is DeSantis’s time to show up and lead,” he continued. “I think the other era has ended, and it’s time to open a new chapter now.”
“I think people in this room love both people, but I think there’s a movement in the DeSantis direction,” Ronald concluded.
Florida resident Drew said he likes the “executive ability of DeSantis,” adding that “Trump will say all things all day long, but the fact [is] that DeSantis actually executes things in an efficient way.”
Despite that, Drew said he would like to see Trump in office again as the “ultimate flex.”
“With the recent Trump arrest and indictment, people almost want to see that saga play out completely before it’s done, because if there’s one middle finger, it’s to put Trump in office again,” he said. “DeSantis is young and may have a chance in another four years.”
“Trump’s story arc is not done,” he said. “I like DeSantis more as a candidate and a person, but the Trump thing, I mean, that’s the ultimate test is to put him back in office and see how it plays out. Trump redemption: put that man in D.C., put the bull in the China shop, wreck everything.”
Virginia from Ohio told the Washington Examiner that while she is hopeful DeSantis will run because he “obviously is following American principles of our Founding Fathers” and has less “baggage” than Trump, she would “vote for any conservative candidate regardless of some baggage which they might carry.”
“Republicans have to win,” Virginia said. “Some people find [Trump] rough around the edges as far as comments which he’s made, maybe taken out of context, you know, to be fair, but a lot of people just find him a little bit rough and would not vote for him. I would in a second because I agree with his policies, and that’s what I think this is about.”
Massachusetts resident Judith said she supports DeSantis “because he knows how to enact policy. He’s not just talk, he’s actually getting it done.”
“He knows how to run bureaucracies,” she said, hitting on a major theme of DeSantis’s speech and the Heritage summit in general. “He knows the levers of power. Trump was a little undisciplined and alienated a lot of people.”
“I think we love both of them, but I think DeSantis’s star is rising, and Trump — the Left has been successful at demonizing Trump unfairly in many cases,” Ronald explained. “Sometimes Trump gets in his own way. I think it’s much harder to use the same arguments against DeSantis as they easily use against Trump — he doesn’t have that kind of baggage.”
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Drew maintained that he was worried, as a Florida resident, about losing DeSantis.
“DeSantis as a Florida asset is so strong and our federalist system, as opposed to having him go to D.C. where he might not get as much done,” he said.