Gov. Ron DeSantis is traveling abroad this week for a series of trips to friendly countries after a challenging week for his national political ambitions. This will be the first foreign stage appearance for the Florida Republican and potential presidential contender.
DeSantis’ extensive travel is reportedly being done on a “international trade mission,” according to his office. DeSantis, first lady Casey DeSantis, and two members of his administration will visit Japan, South Korea, Israel, and the UK to meet with leaders and discuss potential economic collaborations.
In a news release on Thursday, the governor stated, “This trade mission will give us the opportunity to strengthen economic ties and continue to highlight Florida’s position as an economic leader.” While in Israel, DeSantis will serve as the keynote speaker at a gathering organized by The Jerusalem Post and the Jerusalem Museum of Tolerance. The visit there occurs at a time of rising hostilities between the US and its Middle Eastern partner over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed overhaul of the legal system.
As he moves closer to a White House run, the trip will highlight DeSantis’ experience in foreign policy. DeSantis entered the national spotlight as a pandemic contrarian and by guiding his state through a number of cultural conflicts, but his thoughts on international matters were less closely studied until lately, when the governor gave a number of divergent viewpoints on the conflict in Ukraine.
Before the governor changed his mind in an interview with Piers Morgan and referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal, DeSantis’ claim that backing for Ukraine was not of “vital” national interest alarmed hawkish Republicans in Congress. A few days later, he hid his true intentions even further by characterizing the conflict as one of “borderlands.”DeSantis, a former Navy lawyer stationed in both Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, sat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee during his nearly six years in office.
There, he frequently criticized President Barack Obama’s foreign policy priorities. In his capacity as governor, he has pushed for strict measures against communist regimes in Cuba and China, most recently by forbidding TikTok from being used on state government equipment and promoting legislation that would make it unlawful for Chinese nationals to own real estate in Florida.
DeSantis also made fun of a UN committee resolution that attacked an anti-riot law he supported as governor on Friday, even though he was supposed to meet with allies to promote commerce with his state.
He declared, “I wear that criticism as a badge of honor,” during a Heritage Foundation event outside of Washington.
Since his first tenure as governor’s early months in 2019, when he traveled to Israel with the state’s elected cabinet members, DeSantis hasn’t left US land on official business until his current trip abroad. DeSantis has only traveled to Israel while serving as an elected official.Over a dozen trade missions were undertaken by DeSantis’ predecessor, now-US Senator Rick Scott, while he was governor. Despite coping with a coronavirus outbreak that severely limited travel for the most of his first term, DeSantis has mainly been focused on domestic matters.
obstacles at home
DeSantis is leaving behind challenges in his home state that have prompted critics to question his recent extensive travel as he gears up for his first trips to Europe and East Asia as governor. He is also leaving behind the most challenging portion of the unofficial launch of his anticipated presidential campaign.In a primary against Donald Trump, who continues to bash his former ally on social media, some significant funders have publicly expressed doubts about DeSantis’ chances. By announcing a number of congressional endorsements, including a number from Florida members, the former president last week upstaged DeSantis’ attempt to win support from his old colleagues on Capitol Hill. So far, 11 Florida Republicans have backed Trump over DeSantis, including seven just last week.
Additionally, DeSantis has come under fire for how he handled this month’s torrential downpours, which were characterized as a 1-in-1,000-year rainfall event that submerged Fort Lauderdale and the nearby cities. DeSantis traveled to Ohio for his book tour and appeared at a fundraiser for Republicans in New Hampshire while dealing with the severe flooding; he then returned to Florida for the late-night, behind-closed-doors signing of a six-week abortion ban. DeSantis made few public comments about the storms.
Donald Trump Jr., the son of the former president, tweeted earlier this month that “Fort Lauderdale is under water and DeSantis is currently campaigning in Ohio instead of taking care of the people suffering in his state.”
South Florida experienced gasoline shortages as a result of the hurricanes, and the state’s two Republican US senators criticized the response without specifically criticizing DeSantis. Senator Marco Rubio described the situation as “crazy” and said, “They gotta fix this thing.”
Families in Florida shouldn’t be concerned about the cost of their upcoming gas tank. Every tool at our disposal needs to be used to rectify this,” tweeted Scott.
In response to a question regarding the senators from Florida’s statements, DeSantis spokesman Bryan Griffin told CNN that “the state emergency response system has been at work since the floods happened and remains in full swing responding to the needs of the locals as they are notified to us. The following day, the flooding was declared an emergency by the governor.
DeSantis approached the Biden administration on Saturday to ask for a major disaster declaration.
Republican legislators in Florida’s legislature have been entrusted with aiding DeSantis in securing policy triumphs before he begins a presidential campaign. The Florida Legislature is reaching the end of a 60-day session in Tallahassee, the capital of his state. Several of those legislation, such as the one banning abortion, the one allowing Floridians to carry concealed weapons in public, and the one reforming the state’s tort laws, have already received his signature.
However, a number of his initiatives seem to have come to a standstill in the GOP-controlled legislature while DeSantis was primarily on the road. A bill to make it simpler to sue media organizations for libel hasn’t advanced for weeks. A part of DeSantis’ immigration plan that would have prohibited undocumented people from paying in-state tuition has also been opposed by state legislators.US Representative Greg Steube, a former Florida senator who backed Trump last week, charged state legislators on Friday with “carrying the water for an unannounced presidential campaign.”
The GOP lawmaker wrote, “Your constituents voted you into those positions to represent them, not to kowtow to the presidential ambitions of a Governor!” The people of Florida will appreciate your strength and bravery.
At the Heritage Foundation event on Friday, DeSantis rattled off his conservative achievements as governor in front of a warm audience, seemed unconcerned by the commotion.
DeSantis also took a brief look ahead to the 2024 race, outlining the issues that would be on the line in that election and suggesting that the nation needed a “determined and disciplined chief executive to root out politicization and corruption throughout the old executive branch”—likely a dig at Trump’s disorganized and distracted presidency.
DeSantis stated, “We need to reject the doom and gloom attitude about the future of our nation. Because success is attainable, freedom is worth fighting for, and decline is a choice.
