ron desantis has an ability to.t just hasn't been fully tested at this point. >> david we will get back to laura, but i want to ask you, who would the democrats -- rather be up against here? with their rather be fighting trump or ron desantis? >> there was only one name, that is donald trump. donald trump -- you can assert ron desantis as the candidate, but that is still donald trump. he has been an acolyte for donald trump for the last two years in his role as governor. that is what the democratic strategy is, to get out of the way of the republicans making mistakes, whether it is donald trump, ron desantis, chris christie. there will be every ad, every message that will go out, whatever that candidate and donald trump in the same frame. the people will have to deal with that to remove the stain of trump if he is not the nominee. it is most likely he will be. we will see -- stay on our record, the democrats need to get out of the way of the republicans going after each other. >> laura, to what extent will independe

war on ron desantis.acking desantis on everything from his poll numbers, and his support for cutting social security and medicare, t getting, quote outplayed, that started, and embarrassed b mickey mouse a trump aligned super pac even cut an ad mocking desantis based on a report that he want a cup of chocolate pudding that is it, so gross - astoundingly gross ad, with hi fingers. rolling stone reports that the trump plotted for weeks to quote, mind f desantis b ranking of endorsements. it has worked. he is not one over more than half of florida's republican congressional delegation who have endorsed him, or thei governor even the congressman holding rhonda scent is his old seat i going for trump. and trump had them all over fo dinner last night at mar-a-lag which he then posted about o social media the problem with desantis is that he's cultivated this imag as a tough guy, he can fight the conservatives care about him, telling the woke to get lost but there is one person that h has to pick a fight with t

this week ron desantis versus walt disney versus donald trump.t is a florida governor star fading as he tussles with mickey mouse while the former presidents urges it in the republican primary polls paid will get at the state of the presidential race in the two big beast ahead of the field. ron desantis to be taken seriously, the next attraction alongside the magic kingdom mgm studios in epcot and orlando sunshine will be a state penitentiary, this is not a twisted themepark from the 40 governor is the latest escalation with top executives at walt disney the company that seems intent on being the walk is place on earth, desantis has been in a fight with disney for more than a year since the company mobilized against 40 republicans in the reasonable legislation to ban the teaching in the public schools of sex and kids young as four or five it emerged that disney had lauded the government's efforts to seize control of the district with the largest themepark, this week enraged desantis up the empty some new treating ideas against mickey mouse. >> wi

the idea of ron desantis hasn't been exciting as what we've seen as potential candidate ron desantist of people didn't see that and they're still going to endorse donald trump >> do you think there's some growing chatter that some republicans are asking desantis to wait a cycle. >> there's a lot of risk going after donald trump you're going to take on a lot of fire ron desantis has a lot he can offer. if you lose to donald trump you're damaged goods it's something that he should really think about take him down if you're going to get in the ring. >> communications strategist and former aide to house speaker ryan. >>> up next, artificial intelligence, we'll give you the latest >>> then coming up on "morning joe," fox news reaches a last-minute settlement with dominion in defamation lawsuit surrounding the 2020 election conspiracies >>> we'll also talk to georgia >>> we'll also talk to georgia secretary of state brad ra the virus that causes shingles is sleeping... raffensberger. think you're not at risk? wake up. because shingles could wake up in you. if you're over 50, talk to your d

desantis. there is no denying that trump has strong early momentum. this past week has been his best since alvin bragg announced his absurd indictment from the endorsements he has racking up with key florida legislatures to the solid lead he is showing in new hampshire. the former president is clearly a political force to be reckoned with. he has not let up on some of the more off the mark attacks on desantis record. >> i think he gets good publicity. although people are now starting because i am putting out the covid numbers. he did not do good on covid. he had more deaths than almost every country in florida. i hate to say it because florida is my state. but he did not do well. i don't want to knock anybody, but the thing he did well on his public relations. this strikes me as pretty weak criticism since trump remembered when governor kemp decided to reopen georgia first. this afternoon the former president released a long statement. it was wild and kind of trashing the entire state of florid

he's gotten personal with governor desantis. and i explained in short terms that i thought desantis was the best choice. it was polite, civil exchange. via text. that's it. >> neil: did he text you back on that? >> not after that. not after that. he initiated. and i found that across the country. i've been travelling to states across america. ordinary voters, conservatives, independents are -- they can't wait for ron desantis to get in this race. they're so impressed with what he's done in florida. when we tell them the rest of the desantis story, working his way through college, winning and having those coat tails that they don't necessarily know in the rest of the country, they get very excited to support a desantis for president campaign that we hope will arise sometimes in the next couple months. >> neil: you know, the poll numbers don't bear that out. of course, it's very early as you and i talked about. these kind of things at difference times. right now donald trump even oddly after the diamond, the first ever for a forme

desantis on.erating ron desantis on what i probably one of the most cunning political ads of the decade let's play it. for those who have not see this, this is a new ad >> ron desantis loves sticking his fingers where they don't belong and we are not just talkin about putting. desantis has his dirty fingers all over senior entitlements like cutting medicare, slashin social security, even raisin our retirement age tell ron desantis to keep hi putting fingers off our money. oh, and somebody get this man spoon. >> for those who do not no know, that arises from a daily beast reporting the rhonda ron desantis once in a meeting was unable to procure spoon an eight putting with his fingers i cannot attest -- we cannot attest to th veracity of that it's a disgusting ad but clear mccaskill, setting aside the grossness of that ad it's something you can see joe biden running against ro desantis, and it's coming from one of the republican party' own. that's a trump endorsed ad, or a trump super pac ad, which

for many months, ron desantis was the man.won a landslide re-election victory in florida, and he was the guy who would save the republican party for donald trump, and now the media are pummeling the governor. trump is the virtual lock for the republican nomination. what was desantis thinking? he should pull out. i know, he wasn't even many if yet, and wait for 2028. as rich lowry writes tongue in cheek, the ron desantis presidential campaign sure was good while it lasted, and now he's getting buried a couple of months before he even announces. so trump turbo-charged by his indictment in the stormy daniels case has been rising in the polls, and desantis has been sinking. i've argued for many weeks now against my guests that desantis needed to respond to trump's assaults rather than largely ignore him because he's busy with the florida legislature. now that's becoming the media's conventional wisdom. throw in the journalists who say ron desantis lacks charisma, and you have a whole new landscape at least for this week. i'm howar

here is a former republica congressman described desantis just this week i sat right next to desantiswo years on the foreign affairs committee, and he neve said a single word to me i was new to congress, and h did not introduce them suffe even say hello congressman steube told th hill this week that after he was hospitalized for falling off a ladder, rhonda scent thi never bothered to call him donald trump has a knack for taking down his opponents, but the hits rhonda scent this i this week were actually's ow doing. there are not just coming from trump. his own people, republicans, including many republicans i his state seem to believ desantis is missing something, that he's not ready fo primetime. maybe former congressman - said it best when he said, i you are going to go into politics, a fundamental skil that you should have i likability, i don't think he has it i think he is an a whole joining me now is fernand amadi, executive pb and - he is a msnbc political animus and -- danielle moodie, host of wal back us and co-host that the new abnormal podcasts. and jason selvig, comedian f

>> well, if you look at what desantis is trying to do, desantis is trying to be a less chaotic donaldtaken up the culture wars with a lot of gusto and gone after this and by the way we should point out, alex, that the law was passed was a typical culture war trying to address a problem that didn't exist they were not teachers in k-3 talking to their students talking to their students about sexual orientation that wasn't occurring. it was just one of those false flags that republicans put up around culture wars to try to get the base all revved up so the thing that has happened to desantis is he was going to be the less chaotic harvard educated donald trump. turns out -- and supposedly smarter than trump turns out not so much. he's made so many blunders in the last three months, and we can go through them. there's a number of them, but i think at the top of the list is the fight with disney. i mean here's a beloved entity in the united states of america uniquely american. mickey mouse and star wars and toy story and all the things that my grandchildren love, he goes after them. and wha

what happened to desantis' proto-campaign in these last few weeks?t got to that. >> right >> i think the problem is, and i've always said this -- these congressman, i don't mak a lot with endorsements, unles what they are doing is recognizing what the base is u to and i think with these congressman leading the voters they are actually following th voters and, of course, in this and it's a demonstration about the stranglehold that donald trump still has on the base of the republican party if you put to center point o where the republican party i today, it is donald trump. and that's the problem that ro desantis has maybe he launches a campaign that is contingent on donald trump following and failin apart and getting put in jai or something maybe that's the contingency but a one-on-one race with trump versus desantis -- it doesn't look like it's goin to be much of a campaign >> let me -- you bring up a lot o interesting points but let me play -- you get to some of the point that you raised. -- greg steube and one of his's - about fox news and i'll get

donors are backing off desantis. and even after trump's indictment, desantis has been stumbling.ght the current president biden making that announcement desantis' own florida colleagues have rushed to endorse trump including the congressman who took his seat in his home district all top conservatives i should say have also dialled up criticism. >> governor desantis is close to making a fool of himself with his walt disney obsession. >> i don't think ron desantis is a conservative based on his actions towards disney >> you know, i -- that was beyond the scope of what i as a conservative limiting the government would be willing to do >> he seems a long ways from that early fawning press about imagining him as a nominee or even the president it seems that now he's facing a kind of political dmx moment desantis is slipping and falling and can't get up the test is where he goes from here as the late great dmx put it, ay, yo, i'm slipping, i'm fall, i've got to get up will desantis get up from here i mean it is admittedly a relief for talk about 2024 in the real world for people who do

reached last week who also remembers ron desantis at guantÁnamo. >> desantis, he was there.is name until we saw him in the media and then we heard about he is now working in congress, a guard who was working along time ago for the government, a lawyer. he's doing the same thing as the guards. he was siding with the guards, with the administration there. he was a link of that chain, people who were involved with injustices, wrongdoing, mistreatment of detainees, putting people -- detainees and integrating conditions -- in new grading conditions. many of these are not suitable for animals, not for humans. amy: that was a former guantanamo prisoner. he was released in 2015. mansoor, you also contacted former prisoners via whatsapp to see if they remembered ron desantis. for our tv viewers, we are showing the screenshot of one of the people who responded to you. he wished to remain anonymous. his message says, in translation -- "yes, i remember him, he was in detention with a group of officers who hurt and tortured us a lot. may allah publish them all." i assume it means "punish

florida governor ron desantis. even some of her supporters, though, have been alarmed by setbacks he's had recently cnn's jessica dean has more on that. when it comes to political battles, florida governor ron desantis usually finds himself on the attack. i said, i'm not going to sit back and try to skirt issues. i'm going on offense. i'm going to take the bull by the horns. i'm going to go in there and we're not going to leave anything left to chance. but as desantis nears an official entrance to the 2024 race, a rough stretch with potential allies expressing concern about his policy stances and others questioning his approach to wooing gop lawmakers. to back his not yet announced candidacy desantis recent move to sign a six week abortion ban during a late night private ceremony after returning from out of state travel, prompting concern from top gop donors, including billionaire ken langone told the washington post. he wants the florida governor to moderate his stance on the issue. and to quote be a little more c

what's your read on trump apparently not just outmanuring desantis but you've got another longtime desantis brian mast, who didn't just back trump, apparently, he's going to cheer a veterans group what's going none florida? >> let me disagree with the senator saying desantis isn't running yet, he is, he's gone to ohio, and asia, for the foreign policy chops desantis is in what you're seeing this fall is the return of his camp the reason you're seeing the florida delegation to trump and the tepid response in d.c. is because ron desantis has very few allies and very late loyalty, he's done it his way, look, to his credit, he's done it his way and become governor but when that means a hard-fought race against donald trump, the allies just won't be there for ron desantis finally, chris, we have to acknowledge, we're just witnessing the strength of donald trump's grip on the party. it remains stronger than ever. >> let's talk specifically about the fight ongoing against disney, one of the biggest employers, biggest tax revenues in the state of florida. is there anything smartly strategic about w

i'll bet a dollar desantis will wait to 2028.e migrant children are ending up in the hands of sponsors exploiting them. >> today children will call a hotline to report they are abused, neglected and trafficked and we don't know if they get the help they need. >> john: a whistleblower detailing the problem she witnessed firsthand calling on congress to crack down on migrant children in modern day slavery. brandon judd is up next on that and biden's now plan for when title 42 comes off. >> aishah: fbi director christopher wray, and a laundry list of other subjects. including china and hunter biden. a preview coming up. use the three p's: plan ahead by getting a va cash out home loan from newday. pay off your high rate credit cards. pay yourself cash. about two years ago, i realized that jade was overweight. i wish i would have introduced the fresh food a lot sooner. after farmer's dog, she's a much healthier weight. she's a lot more active. and she's able to join us on our adventures. get started at betterforthem.com ah, these bill

we need to be clear desantis has not launched a presidential campaign.t will be next month. he is really walking a tight line on this. 44% of republicans said they had a more favorable view of the governor because of his battle with disney. that's less than 50%. same poll, 53% of voters support a political candidate backs law punish a company due to politics. you wrote a law "woke inc." good or bad move by your competitor. >> where ron desantis really messed up here. i'm surprised one of the special privileges disney had was legislated under none other than ron desantis. he passed a political antidiscrimination statute saying that owners of website and internet companies, this includes disney could not discriminate based on the basis of viewpoints except they carved out disney. they said if you own a theme park greater than 25 acres in the state of florida that was carved out. ron desantis struck back at disney they enjoyed thee special protections. dirty secret is one of those crony capitalist protections was byron desantis himself. i'm surprised nobody

>> well, if you look at what desantis is trying to do desantis is trying to be a more, a less chaoticr wars with a lot of gusto and gone after this. and by the way, we should poin out, alex, that the law that was passed was a typical culture war trying to address problem that didn't exist. there were not teachers in k through three talking to their students about sexua orientation. that wasn't occurring. it was just one of those false flags. republicans put up aroun cultural wars to try to get th base all revved up so the thing that has happened to desantis's, he was going to be the less chaotic harvar educated donald trump. it turns out, and supposedly smarter than trump, it turns out not so much. he has made so many blunders i the last three months. we can go through them there is a number of them. but i think at the top of th list is the fight with disney. i mean, here is a belove entity in the united states of america. uniquely american, mickey mous and star wars and toy story an all the things that my grandchildren love, he goe after them and what is his goal here? what is he try

and uncharacteristic generosity by putting ron desantis out of his misery with this ad. >> ron desantising his fingers where they don't belong. and we are not just talking about putting. desantis has his dirty fingers all over senior entitlement. and medicare. slashing social security. even raising our retirement age. tell ron desantis to keep his putting fingers off of our money. and some to get this man a >> james: . >> america great again inc. is responsible. >> james: and thinking this this ad can sway voters, then he is exactly right. joining me right now, ragtag gain of misfits to win the champion truth by showing the many headlines possible. this strategist kicked off for text chain performing chuck schumer spam lydia parker. chief borough chief who has only ever made love on murphy beds jonathan keene. chief failed correspondent who will be taking a shower with soap james smartwood jr. >> hey, dad prayed >> james: and cnn host who on tv makes my wife interested in the news van joins. thank you for joining us. why has ron desantis been able to connect with voters or rich donors n

there is a lot of cracks in desantis as a candidate.doesn't have what it takes to take on trump. and we have been saying this for over a year. >> how long do you people have to make a real decision that they're going to get in or not >> i think they have another month or two to do so. and desantis said he wants the legislative session there in florida come to an end he needs to have a law change to seek office without having to resign christie has said may would be his target date as well. we heart from asa hutchinson, the former arkansas governor, he's jumping in. we know mike pompeo is against a return sooner or later, they have to jump in. we're seeing donald trump open the road he announced he'll be going to new hampshire for his next rally in his own 2024 bid. >> we got a lot to talk about in the days and weeks to come as more and more people get in. tara setmyer, thank you for being with me. >>> evan gershkovich, what we're now hearing from his attorney. we've golt that next ♪♪ the only thing i regret about my life is that i did w

anything is possible if ro desantis gets into the white house. have seen, he is willing to punish anyone and everyone who stands in his way to amass more wealth, power, and fame and i just think the country should know that ron desanti is not just a florida problem. he is a national crisis an waiting and we have to put a stop to him now. >> also in and brandon, than you so much for being with us, after the break, that awkwar moment when your attorney is their own attorney we are talking about special counsel jack smith's new witness. that is next plus, how they're boucher, member of the white hous counsel and economic advisor joins us to break down what th president just did to expand access to childcare. before your asthma got in the way? get back to the things you love... with fasenra. fasenra is an add-on treatment for eosinophilic asthma. having too many eosinophils, a type of white blood cell, can cause inflammation and asthma symptoms. fasenra is designed to target and remove eosinophils and helps prevent asthma attacks. fasenra is 1 dose e

, why even some republicans are starting t sour on desantis i, straight ahead. limbo. the latest on the suprem court's decision to preven access to the abortion pill, for, now and what we are watching for next in tha battle keep it right here and saved $652. they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. with the money we saved, we thought we'd try electric unicycles. whoa! careful, babe! saving was definitely easier. hey babe, i think i got it! it's actually... whooooa! ok, show-off! help! oh! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ next on behind the series... let me tell you about the greatest roster ever assembled. the monster, the outlaw... and you can't forget about the boss. sometimes- you just want to eat your heroes. the subway series. the greatest menu of all time. you're doing business in an app driven, multi-cloud world. that's why you choose vmware. with flexible multi-cloud services that enable digital innovation and enterprise control, vmware helps you keep your cloud options open. ♪♪ allergies do

desantis didn't know about i until it was too late.ls the ability to say, you just got played by th mouse how. you want to do against vladimi putin in for president >> how is he gonna do agains trump when he -- gets into the races, is my big question now that desantis is sel appointed board is now in place, how much is disney at the merc of the sport >> it's gonna go into th courts the board is gonna say, we can still do any ways -- they can't >> desantis will take anothe tack, they will go civil t slater which have been largely compliant, and given desanti everything he wanted they're starting to see some cracks in the armor because th legislature is slowly starting to show some discontent that they've had to roll over and d everything for desantis. legislature is almost entirely republican, they have supermajority, but now you hav trunk -- to stand up to desantis. here's a key, jonathan, yo have to watch the court of legislator to see if they're gonna grant desantis a exception -- to run law if desantis run for senators like he is, t

the problem is for ron desantis, any given day the story is desantis snaps at reporters as opposed tok about issue x. >> the backdrop of the clip is important. this is ron desantis, anyone to israel, japan, a couple other places. showing he is a born leader. this happens when his team walked back a statement about ukraine, calling a regional problem. this, here in lies the problem as he moves forward as a president a candidate. he seems to have figured out how to play florida. florida app the media and the nation's media are uniquely different. this is where he will find himself in trouble. when you answer questions like that, they will play in the united states. >> the press press was tough on him. he wasn't charismatic and the question about his personality seems to be more that he is not natural. >> i'm reminded of mitt romney's trip overseas, and a solemn memorial and a reporter said what about your gaffes? will you give us a comment about your gaffes? putting a dog on the roof of your car. >> according to cnn, breitbart chief matt boyle told one of his reporters he couldn't do a

just one is for governor desantis. so far, some new cnn reporting today details the personal touches trump uses to win these endorsements. they include a dinner coming up for florida republicans at trump's mar-a-lago one source, telling cnn that if desantis wants endorsements, he quote should be picking up the phone and calling directly instead of having an aide doing the reach out, adding quote. you know who calls for the trump endorsement? trump himself. cnn's melodies are known as part of this new reporting and joins our conversation. this is interesting in endorsements of house members are not going to be the determining factor and who wins the republican nomination. this is one day in the life of the 2024 campaign, so we shouldn't overstate it. but but when donald trump for president in 2016, it was making it up as you go along. this is proof that he has an organization that is strategically thinking and looking to embarrass ron desantis exactly right. trump has made this a personal priority of his his specificall

desantis packets there first. tv ad of this cycle, and i chose me a couple of things, but one thing. it shows me that desantis has decided he wasn't going to try not to take that equivocation kind of approach that a lot of trump's rivals or perspective. rivals that are starting at lower numbers are trying to do where it's like you criticized the thing within the other day. you can you know the next day, you kind of defend him or trying not to say his name like desantis is clearly going to go for it. the pudding add is so disgusting and we were all out like laughing on her breath as it was playing because you kids, so gross, and the thing is when that report first came out. i was like, who cares if he ate pudding with his fingers? and now i understand there was a clever young ad maker who understood immediately how revolting that image was going to be and how would freeze in your brain? but i actually think that desantis is the protestantism packs are arguments against donald trump. once you get past the putting im

that was governor ron desantis just seven weeks ago ambitiously quoting bachmann turner overdrive as governor laid out his legislative priorities during his state of the state remarks. uain't seen nothing yet, baby. and yet many of the lawmakers in that very audience seem to be saying, actually, we've seen enough that is because since the start of its session the florida legislature has been moving in break neck speed on governor desantis' agenda pushing through very extreme stuff like a bill last week that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and a bill today that allows a jury to recommend to death penalty without reaching a unanimous vote, that kind of stuff the big problem for governor desantis the same people he's depending onto get these bills to his desk, those same people are kind of over it. here's a headline from politico today deeply frustrated florida legislatures worn-out by desantis they report part of the angst has been sparked by a grinding session where legislatures have pushed through bill after bill and chewed up hours of contentious debate that's considered

donald trump is running against desantis and desantis is running against disney.k that is a big mistake. i mean look, desantis was right about the woke opposition from disney. he was right. the desantis bill had nothing to do about don't say gay. it said up to five years old you can't be taught sex and gender kinds of things in school, okay? five years old. so i agree with desantis on that. but, but, but, what's happened since then he has gotten into this argument, a legalistic argument about the governance of this walt disney district, whatever it is called, reedy district, and now the argument is getting deeper and deeper. desantis is having to spend more and more time on this. i think that is a huge mistake. desantis should be running against trump on the issues. desantis should be running against biden on the issues. desantis, who is a good governor, don't get me wrong, he is a strong guy, okay? he has got a lot to give. he has big contributions in the republican party. he has done a good job in florida. he should be talking about new york city has a 14.8% tax

i would say, in some part, thi reflects the party more than just ron desantis himself.go further tha 15 weeks and fellow republican said florida's going to be an abortion sanctuary so, ron desantis had to move o the six-week ban you're seeing him do it on gun as well. i would suggest this, nothin is going to stop ron desanti from running and falling on hi face, we all remember the buil the wall and, what peopl forget, in the last reelection campaign, he ran an ad tha said, on the eight-day god created ron desantis this is someone, he and hi wife have long believed, the have been ordained to be president of the united states the problem is, the only deity in republican politics, is a guy that just got indicted for paying hush money to an adul film star. >> crochet that on a pillow, former congressman david jolly thank you so much. >> at the top of the hour, hawaii senator - reacts to friday's decision ou of texas, it can impac millions of americans, and t abortion providers, one from wisconsin, one for michigan, are gonna lay out the real world stakes of this war being w

yeah and definitely desantis. his team made this last minute push to try to pick up some endorsements ahead of the trip to capitol hill. this is what a source close to republican house member told cnn about that quote. if the governor wants the endorsement, he should be picking up the phone and calling directly instead of having an aide doing the reach out, you know who calls for the trump endorsement? trump himself unquote. look you know what? what's going on? here is politics, right? very very early in the presidential primaries to be create, you know, taking up the airwaves with this what i found in my new project with rescuing the american dream is that voters are tired of politics. they want to hear solutions. americans are suffering right now. majority of them. 70% in our survey agreed that america is on the wrong track. and their top three number one. government big government and politics. um no one's talking about solutions to help the american people. i want to give the microphone to the american people.

he's trying to slide governor ron desantis in the same image. that's why you saw a brief flash of ron desantis' face in his announcement video. this is where it's harder for trump to move voters. it will be up to him to introduce himself to the american voter. that's where positive optimistic vision must come in to deliver voters a choice rather than the dark maga language that biden used. >> martha: you think he will announce sooner than later? some are saying mid may. he scoffed that after in israel. >> reporting suggests an exploratory committee in mid may. i saw mid may as a date. i think in june he's in the race fully. >> martha: thanks, kayleigh mcenany and marc thiessen, juan williams joining us. thanks. later this hour from new york, david asman and charlie arnault as a biological male raised against thousands of women in the london marathon and called out for finishing ahead of thousands of women in that race. we'll talk about that later with charlie. also jonathan turley is standing by on this case that's been brought by disney against

among all other voters, it's basically even, desantis and trump.o here is go into donald trump's base and basically take it away or cut away at the edges on trump has, because that's the reason he's ahead. what i will point out though, anderson, is that you go back to republican primaries, tonight in hundred 96, it's a choice of moderates. the candidate winds moderates tends to win the nomination. the only example where that was not true was george w. bush in 2000. so what rhonda sanders is doing makes sense when you look at the polling data, it is on degree. but at the end of the day, he may sacrifice the middle of the republican electorate. >> how has desantis been doing nationally over the last few weeks? >> this to me is, again, twofold. okay, you're gonna appeal to the gop base, but what happens when the general electorate? a month ago in ipsos polling data, what we saw that biden was barely leading desantis while having a clear lead over donald trump. desantis is running a bit better in the general election against biden and on trump was runn

scott, while trump's focus is on desantis, desantis's team put out a digital video looking ahead to a't have the clip. but give me your reaction to desantis's strategy. >> yeah. absolutely they're trying to get republicans to visualize a world where trump is not in charge of the party any more. he's dominated the republican party since 2016 and it is hard to emergency anyone else being the standard bearer. they want to show that desantis could be that standard bearer and he could take on trump and biden an win and we don't have to be dominated by donald trump forever. so the strategy is visualization. if you could visualize something, maybe you could make it come true. >> and another political issue, former arkansas republican governor asa hutchinson announced his bid for the white house today. here is a bit of what he said. watch. >> in this campaign for president, i stand alone in terms of my experience, my record, and leadership. there are a few misguided leaders who say we should defund law enforcement. we should defund the fbi. i am here today in support of our law enforcement he

the fact is, ron desantis is way down in the republican primary.t's working anywhere. i don't know what he is doing. >> appreciate it. >> thank you. >>> a manhunt is under way. a mississippi inmate has been spotted outside the state. we will have the latest. your dedicated fidelity advisor can help you open those doors. they can help you create a retirement-income e plan designed to balance growth and guaranteed income. and provide access to specialists who help with estate planning to look out for future generations so you're not just growing and protecting your wealth. you're sharing it. because doors were meant to be opened. great job, everybody! hi, i'm michael, i've lost 70 pounds on golo. i spent thousands on other diets that didn't work. on golo, i spent a coupleundred bucks and got back down toy high school weight. u're not gonna believe this thing is possible but it is. how to grow delicious herbs: step one: use miracle-gro potting mix. that's it. miracle-gro. all you need to know to grow. wondering what actually goes into your multi-vitam

i served with ron desantis. . these members serveded with as ron desantis and their endorsing donald trump for a reason. >>mean, i don't think i have that. let's go back two years. l go ba yeah.ck how many of those people outhoum there, all the smart commentators wouldco be saying trum they're saying now.ar right. holot of it was trump's finished. how many times havw e you heardm trump is finished, trump is finished. trump is over january six killed the nuary 6tm all the all these investigations kill nail in the coffin. >> sn o maybe ron desantis is coming back .. i don't know.know. i mean, listen, i can only tell you i'm as good as my sources. p ifeo you talk to smart people that run campaign and actually win campaigns, donald trump has one too many campaigns lately. if you talk to those folks, they're telling you ron desantis could come back . he's got to right the ship. in he's got to get some technocrats in there thathe know what they're doing. y are and he's got to do it sooe else he's going to be toast. but

absolutely not >> reporter: what about ron desantis >> no.would like to see the two of them mutually come together and agree to work with each other. and perhaps at the forefront, a leader, and handing off to somebody like ron in the future. >> reporter: now, katy, let's look at a reality to this. right now in new hampshire polling, donald trump has a sizable lead he is wrapping up legislative endorsements i was talking with a close trump ally they have had eight years to build a machine. they have been garnering campaign contacts to folks who voted for him in 2016, and 2020. donald trump is a known entity here everybody knows what he is able to serve up and it's going to be up o ron desantis and nikki haley come give them a try right now, the trump organization feels good about where they're standing in new hampshire. exactly why he's coming here. >> i guess you're saying he's a pepperoni pie, and people have to try the pineapple ham to see if they like it. that's where i think you're going with that. vaughn hillyard, thank you very much, an

why ron desantis? >> good to be with you, neil.antis is the most successful republican chief executive we've seen in decades in america and, he has done a spectacular job in florida as demonstrated by his winning record without ever backing down on his conservative principles. he won over, almost by 20% in the largest swing state in the america. he had the biggest coattails we've seen in a long time right down to school boards. nobody else who is looking at running for president can say that, or anything like it. so we hope he gets in this race and believe he is the best opportunity for the future of america, starting in 2025. neil: ken, has your old boss gotten back to you on this and called you a traitor? >> no. it hasn't gotten personal with me even though he has gotten personal with governor desantis. neil: right. >> i explain in short terms that i thought desantis was the best choice. it was polite, civil exchange but, via text but that's it. neil: did he text you back? did he text you back on that? >> no, not after that, not

ron desantis is in that same sort of camp, and i think, in a lot of ways, while, you know, desantis may regret having to wait as long as he's waiting to get in, the good news for republicans is that both of these candidates are on the winning side, which is on the side that most republican voters want and democrats are the ones that are defending the indefensible 20% margin of free healthcare, free illegals and open borders. >> laura: victor, lindsay graham spoke out and a lot of donors, i understand, are also very concerned, about this six-week abortion ban decision by governor desantis. very widely popular in the republican party. here's what graham said. >> desantis will have to ask the question -- answer the question, do you support a national ban at six weeks? why did you pick six weeks? the legislative body of florida supported what he did. this is an issue worth talking about. >> laura: victor, is this a problem? >> i think it's mostly a media problem. the problem is you outlined, and charlie alluded to is that the republicans haven't won at the national level 51% of the vote sin

in addition, you know, ron desantis' m.o.s four years as governor -- i've been watching him every day of his administration -- is to basically bully people into submission, and he's been very effective at that. here's a case where disney, a big, powerful, respected institution is pushing back forcefully. and this lawsuit they filed in federal court in tallahassee is partly on first amendment grounds, and it's partly on the impairment of contracts. they've got contracts to run the entertainment universe down there in orlando. and so finally, i think people who have had concerns about the way desantis is running the state are -- they're gratified to see somebody really push back strongly against this governor. >> and they certainly have done that. julian, desantis took an international trip this past week, you know, trying to bolster his policy credentials as he prepares to run for president. we think he's going to run for president. but in a new interview in the uk, desantis brushed off the disney lawsuit, claiming the tallaha

ron desantis acted in retribution.e used the powers of his office to secret seek retribution on that this lawsuit does have a lot of merits. it's not just critics from outside the state. last night the former state republican chair now a state senator actually became the first republican to break from ron desantis and to tell the governor stop picking on disney when the state senate had a vote last night on the next round of penalties, rue ter said i'm not with you he was a no vote, and he took a traditional republican opinion in saying let's let the consumers power of the purse determine whether or not they like what disney's doing or not. let's not have the heavy hand of government do that so joe gruter is being the first where we're seeing cracks among florida republicans. nikki haley asked a good question, if you are disney you have billions invested in the state, decades invested in the state. certainly you're not going to pick up and move but at what point is the breaking point when the governor is saying you're

between this the, florida and ron desantis is heating up., disney launched a lawsuit against desantis at his handpicked oversight board to nullify dizzy special taxing district. disney alleges, quote, a targeted campaign of government retaliation, orchestrated at every step by governor ron desantis as punishment for disney's protected speech now threatens disease business operations, jeopardizes its future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights. vanessa yurkevich is on this story. so, vanessa, this is a plot twist. because up until now it has been desantis against disney but now disneyfiring back let see what happens next. >> this is round 25 between disney and desantis. and really, this is going to be a long, drawn out, battle between essentially desantis and the state of florida and disney. disney is suing desantis and the newly appointed board members after he ousted the old board members that were basically talking to disney about how they would continue to work with this huge corporations. but what we are seeing now is th

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