Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking over a front-and-center function within the response to the second assassination try in opposition to former President Trump, catapulting him again onto the nationwide political stage.
DeSantis introduced on Tuesday that the state would open their very own prison investigation into the newest try on Trump’s life, wherein a person was arrested after allegedly stalking the previous president with a rifle in Florida. The probe will run concurrent to the federal investigation into the incident.
It’s not irregular for states to launch their very own investigations alongside federal probes, however the growth comes as DeSantis stands to play a key function within the normal election in Florida and appears to maintain his profile excessive as he charts the course of his political future.
“It is part of his job, but it also endears him to the Republican base because this is the party of Donald John Trump,” mentioned Ford O’Connell, a Florida-based Republican strategist.
Trump’s supporters and conservatives have grown more and more weary with the federal authorities’s response to tried acts of violence in opposition to Trump, pointing to the truth that the second incident occurred lower than two months after Trump was shot and practically killed at a rally in Pennsylvania.
“When it comes to the investigations though, I think there’s been a clear divide and a real uncertainty, certainly with conservatives, in terms of their feelings of the federal government to properly investigate itself in many respects,” mentioned one GOP strategist.
DeSantis echoed this sentiment on Tuesday when he formally introduced the state investigation.
“In my judgment, it’s not in the best interest of our state or our nation to have the same federal agencies that are seeking to prosecute Donald Trump leading this investigation, especially when the most serious, straightforward offense constitutes a violation of state law but not federal law,” the governor mentioned.
Republicans stress that DeSantis’s investigation into the matter shouldn’t be political in nature. However the nationwide response to the assassination try has turn out to be political as Republicans lay blame on the toes of Democrats for his or her rhetoric towards Trump. Democrats, together with Trump’s opponent Vice President Harris, have mentioned there is no such thing as a place for political violence.
DeSantis’s investigation into the assassination try on Trump is the newest growth in a tumultuous relationship between the governor and the previous president. DeSantis carefully tied himself to Trump throughout his gubernatorial runs, solely to garner Trump’s wrath when he challenged him within the 2024 GOP presidential major.
The 2 have since made amends, with DeSantis pledging to help Trump within the normal election and even getting a talking slot on the Republican Nationwide Conference in July.
“Gov. DeSantis has been quietly inching closer and closer to Trump’s orbit since dropping out of the primary,” mentioned Dan Eberhart, a Trump donor who supported DeSantis in the course of the GOP major.
David Macdonald, professor of American politics on the College of Florida, sees DeSantis’s transfer as a “smart play.”
At first of his gubernatorial profession, DeSantis branded himself as extra of a reasonable. However as a comparatively younger candidate probably in search of one other presidential run, positioning himself in alignment with the MAGA wing units him up as potential inheritor to Trump.
“The more I’ve read about him, the more it seems like he positions himself where the Republican Party is,” Macdonald mentioned. “He was a big Tea Party guy and leaned heavily into fiscal conservativism, and in the Trump era has leaned more into culture war conservatism.”
DeSantis enjoys reputation amongst Florida voters. A USA As we speak/Suffolk College/WSVN-TV ballot launched final month confirmed DeSantis with a 52 p.c approval score and a 43 p.c disapproval score.
“The most important thing for [DeSantis] to do is continue to lead his state, and I think that is what got him into the national dialogue originally,” the Republican strategist mentioned. “He’s positioning himself for whatever he wants to do in the future.”
It’s unclear how the newest assassination try will play within the normal election. The primary try, which came about when President Biden was the presumptive Democratic nominee, turbocharged an already energized Republican base going into the celebration’s nationwide nominating conference.
Some Republicans argue that the newest try may endear Trump to undecided swing voters, pointing to what Republicans say was a botched dealing with of Trump’s safety.
“If you talk about [the assassination attempt], he’s going to win the election,” O’Connell mentioned. “People say to themselves ‘I may not like this guy, but he’s the toughest S.O.B to ever run for president.”
O’Connell pointed to a Gallup ballot out this week that discovered Trump’s favorability elevated from 41 p.c to 46 p.c over the previous month. The ballot was performed from Sept. 3-15, that means nearly all of responses have been collected earlier than the second assassination try.
The unnamed GOP strategist famous that the a number of probes into the 2 assassination makes an attempt coupled with the ultra-polarized could have penalties for each events.
“No matter how the election goes, more and more people are going to need protection for longer periods of time,” the strategist mentioned.
“Until we get that figured out, man there’s going to be lots of uncertainty.”
