desantis's stop woke act and l desantis's stop woke act and the bill he just sighed, desantis's stop inauguration, that has been banned in a school in south florida as a result of the parent's complaint and the law now allows that under the policy of desantis. they have banned african—american history, the holocaust, the diary of anne frank... it is draconian and extreme, and what ron desantis is trying to do is whitewash history. americans are not going to let him do that, they are not going to let him march across women's rights and end women's reproductive freedom like he has done in florida and it raise lgbtq+ history and give tax dollars to the wealthy and fortunate americans to pay for private schools, while we rank 48 in teacher pay, and our public schools need more teacher resources, not less. francis, how would you respond to that? — francis, how would you respond to that? well, i think debbie makes — to that? well, i think debbie makes important points. but at the end — makes important points. but at the end of— makes important points. but at the end of the day, to have fif

so this is rough start for ron desantis. i'm not sure elon musk and his charisma is going to sort of help him get out of this, but obviously there have been better ways to begin his presidential campaign that was going to challenge the incumbent or de facto incumbent. there are definitely better ways to launch. jonathan, but there's obviously the technical glitches and the decision to do it on twitter to begin with, right? the preoccupation of this campaign with kind of the elites that are -- you know, business elites, sail convalley elites who feel somehow left out in the cold by the woke mind virus. i just thought the choice to begin with was a bad one or questionable one and then the execution obviously had problems. your thoughts. >> yeah, look, i think big announcements are typically done with two things in mind -- getting good coverage in the press and raising a lot of money both online and also via traditional big dollar fund-raising asks. and obviously the first part is going to be a debacle, he's going to get terrib

ron desantis cannot be the ron desantis ron desa ntis he ron desantis he is today, he is running a republicanas educated, not someone who is liking a lot of what republicans are doing across america when it comes to abortion. so, today's republican party really stands to gain but i'm not entirely sure that ron desantis to be that person. just make the choice that's going to be a 180 for who he is campaigning yesterday. i believe he is the stamina and the ideas and people think he has no charisma. i've been part of many a campaign in which you talk about personality, he can evolve. you can peel off biden at the end of the day if it isjoe biden versus ron desantis, i do see many voters saying that ron desantis is the better option, though he may be left of centre. i5 better option, though he may be left of centre. , ., ., . ., of centre. is announcement on twitter, this — of centre. is announcement on twitter, this is _ of centre. is announcement on twitter, this is not _ of centre. is announcement on twitter, this is not your - of centre. is announcement on twitter, this is not your usuall twi

the rest anti-desantis crowd and it shows the split and the people that will be showing up to desantisents as he hits the campaign trail going forward. >> bret: let's bring in fox news chief political analyst brit hume. brit, good evening. as you can imagine the former president is out and about. not only posting on truth social but also with some ads against ron desantis. here's a piece of one. >> trump is building a wall securing the border, fighting the invasion while ron desantis is voting against funding for trump's wall. in washington, one was a leader and one let us down. >> bret: you have to look at the fact-checks on all of these statements but, you know, there are a lot of groups that look at this, the spending that this pac has made on ron desantis so far, negative ads is more than they spent on all support for 2022 midterm candidates. >> brit: yeah, no, bret, and i think it's taking a toll on desantis' standing in the polls, but it's early and sentiment is soft. desantis needs to find a way to reverse this. we don't really know yet, bret, what kind of a candidate, as i say,

desantis was in florida. was the magic of twitter space. >> that was fun because we had no idea where anyone bass, we wanted photos of all of you. last ukraine, an issue i'm against a lot, i'm blowing a lot ever money and not sure what we're going to get out of it in the end. but if desantis wins, what do you think that's going to hold on that i don't think we should be in wars of choice so dangerous to be in an escalatory spiral with russia who has thousands of weapons. what i heard desantis say is what's happening in ukraine does not rise to the level have a vital american interest and we should try to seize a ceasefire. my take on it is that where desantis is, is that he would working to achieve a ceasefire. my sense of that dregs keeps trying to racket it up. i think i'm with you laura. >> sean: david we appreciate it. thank you so much, i hope you have a come back soon. than so much what happens at a college graduation, that and so much more coming up next. . . . >> ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasur

. >>> plus, ron desantis bucking the trend.s than two hours to go before the florida republican using twitter and elon musk to launch his campaign for president. coming up, how donald trump, the front-runner, is responding to desantis' unconventional approach. >>> and -- >> we're not going to default. we're going to solve this problem. >> oh, really? how's that fwgoing to happen. only eight days until the u.s.' possible default. negotiators on both sides go back to the drawing board to try to avoid economic catastrophe. welcome to the lead. i'm jake tapper. we start with sad news in our pop culture lead. music legend, tina turner, has died at the sage of 83. a post on her verified facebook account says today we saw good-bye to a dear friend who leaves us her greatest work. her music. tina, we will miss you dearly. ♪ you're simply the best better than all the rest ♪ >> the queen of rock and roll rose to fame from humble beginnings and overcame an infamously, horribly abusive marriage to become one of the most popular female arti

a republican strategist says desantis will need to take on trump directly. >> ron desantis has really positioned himself to be the heir apparent to donald trump. the challenge for desantis is, trump is not ready to leave the stage. until that happens, you are not going to beat donald trump by going around him. you have to confront donald trump head on. >> make america great again. >> reporter: as the gop strategist put it to me, he said ron desantis has to be the luke skywalker to donald trump's darth vader. he has to take the fight to him directly and go at him directly. he can't dance around what trump did or didn't do. he said that's the mistake that jeb bush made in 2016. he didn't go after donald trump directly enough. of course, there's the famous line from the 2016 campaign when jeb bush said to donald trump, you can't insult your way to the white house. in a sense, that's what he did. ron desantis is trying to make sure that donald trump doesn't have the opportunity to do that again. >> appreciate it. >>> coming up, one of the"the w street journal" correspondents that we menti

it's not over for desantis.rove the voters that he is the right person for the gop nomination. i don't think it's over yet. a quick response from you, francis. do you think he can close the gap? i would agree with debbie. with ron, you get the same conservative thinking and i policies without the baggage. what about you, debbie? who do you think potentially could catch up with trump? honestly, the entire field of republican candidates are all extreme. they all subscribe to the same policies that would crack down on diversity and education, that would go backwards when it comes to trying to make sure that we can save social security and medicare, and preserve it as a safety net for our seniors. in florida, that's a huge deal. ron desantis took the position that it is private... turn medicare into a voucher system. the whole field has really walked on that kind of extremism, so i don't know if it matters who the nominee is. americans will embrace joe biden because he has their back, he's brought us out of covid, r

so desantis has his work cut out for him.mp has always held the lead but expanded it significantly when he was indicted by manhattan d.a. alvin bragg. look at that see that trend line? trump's numbers really shot up there in answer. so we are about to find out how much of a political athlete ron desantis is. how does desantis condemn the phony investigations into donald trump while keeping a safe distance from him? now, ron needs to figure out how to deal with the trump investigations if he looks like he supports the investigations, he will lose every republican voter. but if he supports trump while trump's hammering him, he looks weak, desantis has to be nimble here because he will need trump's voters and his political career is just beginning. and fox has the republican primary debate coming up in august. so that's really going to be the first time when we really see how ron handles the heat. trump's flirting with the idea of not showing up. now, that could be for leverage. but republican voters expect him to be there remem

however, they have made an exception for ron desantis, and he's signed it into law today. >> once desantis makes the announcement in about an hour, then what? what happens next? >> reporter: he has assembled hundreds of donors in a conference room here in miami, and they are expected to immediately start raising money. some of them are meeting tonight. tomorrow, a big group of them will gather with desantis, and he will give them the go ahead to start making those calls. and then from there, he will hit the campaign trail. we expect him to mount an aggressive campaign to immediately start to address the concerns that he's not ready to run for president, that he -- his agenda has been too divisive. that he's not clear eyed about the challenge of taking on trump. he's been working behind the scenes with donors to quiet those concerns. now is the time to address them publicly as he officially becomes this candidate who is supposed to take on donald trump and rest the future of the party away from him. >> steve, thanks so much. >>> let's discuss with our team here. desantis has had a rocky few

is that where desantis is ?that is that he would work to achieve a cease fire as president ? whereas my sense that bindf th us keeps trying to ratchet this up and escalate this thing. so d i think i'm with you on this, laura . >> allm with right, david , we y enjoyed it. thank you so much for joining us . now, you must be exhausted. i hope you g mo have a tequilau shot after that was that wasom come back soon. thanks so much.e back all right. >> coming up, what stole the show at a college graduation last night explains . this is this is iowa. we just haven't been properly introduced. say hello to the place where rolling hills meets low bills, where our fields inside and outh are always growing and whereen the fun is just getting started . this is iowa. >> so when are you coming to see us ? hi, i'm mike huckabee, former governor of arkansas, and i'm here today to tell you about our hidden health crisis currently affecting nearly every american sleep deprivation. and that's why you need to know about relaxium slee

if ron desantis does get them not to run against _ him.ron desantis does get them not to run against president - him. if ron desantis does get them not to run against president joe - not to run against presidentjoe biden, but it's going to take for ron desantis to win over those people were independent, people on the democratic side and maybe swaying them away from the president and there they make their vote stop you will all be honest, i don't think they can do it. the you will all be honest, i don't think they can do it. the naacp has called for a — think they can do it. the naacp has called for a travel _ think they can do it. the naacp has called for a travel ban _ think they can do it. the naacp has called for a travel ban to _ think they can do it. the naacp has called for a travel ban to florida - called for a travel ban to florida because of what he is doing. the voter suppression and the information that is being taken out of schools. i think we talked about first amendment rights and telling her history and its context, these th

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desantis launch. the pool asked if joe biden is a strong reader, two out of three said no, he's not. look at the finances of black lives matter, not good. facing encrypted, giving hooch contracts to family, hundred million dollars from america's corporations who have egg on their face. we cover it all thursday may 25, 2023 varney and co. is about to begin. ♪ stuart: life house. >> that's the band, the group. stuart: it is official ron desantis no longer on the bench. he has launched, the are not without technical glitches. >> is like the movie failure to launch. stuart: did you crash the internet? >> it was a disaster technically speaking. kant calls it success, twitter handle nearly 1 million people trying to get into the space room, essentially a conference call. it took 25 minutes and ultimately had to switch to a new room for the big event. it eventually happened, he lost candidacy for president of the united states did not attack trump by name, he went straight for biden. >> i'm running to lead a

but desantis's fight list is long. he entered the republican presidential primary ring to spar with several declared republican contenders, including donald trump. another self-described savior with a predilection for unusually cool policies. now, desantis has continued to stack up policy victories, including last week, he defended inclusion and equity programs up schools, banned german affirming care for minors and restricted the use of preferred pronouns in schools, and the list goes on. today, he signed a -- hey, by the way, that also restrict mail-in voting, limits voter party veteran frustration -- trump, meanwhile, has become more radical than he was even an office. at a recent town hall, trump called the january 6th attack on the capitol a beautiful day. he promised to pardon rioters if he becomes president. and he failed to rule out separating families at the border again. at this point if you are running in the republican primary for 2024, that is the kind of resume you need to be a viable contender. joining u

i know who desantis is. my son is 21, has no clue who desantis is.arents are 70 and 80, have no clue who desantis is. i think on the national stage, he is going to be in trouble. everyone, my neighbors are not buying desantis flags or buying trump flags. there is a whole bunch of them. i think he is too late to the party. i think trump is going to win it. host: in bonita springs, we say good morning to john. caller: good morning, how we doing today? ron desantis running for president is fine by me. i still think he will lose in the primary to trump, trump -- ron desantis is a fine governor for the state of florida. i love how all the lefties in this state are losing their mind because you have somebody fighting against this trans insanity. when you have a small percent of the population trying to dictate to the majority. it is madness, isn't it? as far as the book banning they say desantis is doing, the books he is banning are crt, crazy nonsense. proven, absolutely wrong nonsense. homosexuality in the books, hating on white people, which is reverse

trump is laser focused on desantis, because he knows how desantis has a lot of name recognition, he's been able to raise big money, he has some endorsements, had major policy accomplishments. >> florida political analyst, susan mcmanus, says that this time around, trump does have the advantage of a new angle. taking credit for desantis's rise. >> every single day, trump reminds whatever audience he's speaking to that he was responsible for desantis's election to governor. >> welcome to florida, mr. president. >> it's one of the skills that donald trump has, is that he's able to find a candidate's weakness, he's able to exploit it really well. >> ron's foreign trip was a total bomb. >> exploiting desantis's weaknesses may be tougher. he doesn't have the family legacy bush had, nor does he come from money. desantis grew up middle class in a suburb of tampa bay. his father installed tv equipment for nielsen and his mother was a nurse. in the end, republican strategist, doug high, says desantis will need to take on trump directly. >> ron desantis has really positioned himself to be the ai

ron desantis has a beautiful family. casey desantis is one of his strongest assets. do you think that they need to get a redo and do something like that, salina? >> i think you're probably going to see that kind of sort of barnstorming roll-out that will happen in new hampshire, south carolina and iowa next week. i suspect you'll see that kind of roll-out happen then. politics has changed so dramatically in terms of how politicians communicate. while barack obama did have a lovely roll-out, i was there. you know, he also became very adept using social media and donald trump took it to the next level. what desantis did last night is take it again to a different level. it shows us something that everyone was talking about. not only did they have a lot of people watching it, there was discussion on social media and discussion on all kinds of other social media platforms. to that end, i think that is what they wanted to accomplish and they did it. >> martha: one of the things that is striking, governor huckabee, when you watch the governor from florida, he's a lot younge

desantis? he's at 26%.ld note that the survey -- it was taken before he announced, and also before it senator tim scott announced as well. david chalian will join us in a moment -- our panel, molly ball, who recently wrote a times cover story on desantis. she's a national political correspondent for the magazine, and we are also joined by jason osborne, former trump campaign advisor, and jamal simmons, former communications director for vice president kamala harris. molly, who could have seen this coming? that's twitter, who has -- very glitchy just for the average you did not seem to be able to handle this. what do you make of the significance of this failure? i mean, as the trump campaign put, it the failure to launch here? >> you only get one chance to make a first impression, right? and so much of desantis's refutation, for typically among his fans and supporters, has been the sort of well oiled machine that he has run down there in florida. he has a reputation for having this juggernaut of a sort of ru

is that a bad sign for desantis going forward?i don't know if congressional endorsements matter in the history of politics. i can't pretend to say that they actually matter. i think one thing it's critical about ron desantis is he's engored and backed by somebody like chip roy who has already made as much as he possibly can of the right wing of the current house of representatives, has been someone who's a leader of that charge. but when you look at someone like desantis and his challenges i don't think you should in any way underestimate them. he's been a very successful governor of florida no one who's a conservative discounts that. but we've seen time and again where conservatives come out of states and do amazing thing but we remember rick perry and scott walker and how they fell on their face on the national stage and whatever you thought about being abling to dominate in texas or wisconsin you were not able to actually translate that. that is the big thing that's going to be a challenge for ron desantis. i think he has a cam

so that's what ron desantis has to do. and then it's all about to go full tim russert on you iowa, iowa, iowa. he will have a ground game there like we have not seen from any g.o.p. candidate in some time and donald trump is vulnerable there. because ted cruz won in 2016, you may remember. beat donald trump by three points. if desantis could get a win there or at least be close. that could be enough momentum to propel him to have a puncher's chance against donald trump. as it stands right now, donald trump is the prohibitive favorite. brian. >> brian: tamika, looking at the response from the dnc, they didn't really say anything when tim scott got in. not much of a word when nikki haley got in or asa hutchinson. they came out with a strong mocking statement that he is going to make his announcement on twitter spaces after he got in. what's the buzz behind the scenes for the dnc and ron desantis? >> i think clearly ron desantis is the person to watch. he has been touting out that he has this florida blueprint that he has mad

but he is going after desantis.there's clearly a little bit of concern there about that. >> reporter: i mean, a look, donald trump has been attacking ron desantis since before desantis won by 20 points. his reelection victory in florida. he coined the sanctimonious proud to the midterm elections. he has been poking and prodding and the state of florida for months now relentlessly. without doing anything close to that for the other candidates because desantis in his mind based on the data, the polling, everything else, poses the greatest political threat to trump. i think some of the attacks are landing. i think the disloyalty thing is incredibly weak sauce. i don't think that hits with republican voters. but trump has built a large l lead. >> trace: about 20 seconds left. he has money. he has got a little bit of excitement behind him. as he close this gap relatively soon? or does it take a while? >> reporter: i think he has to show some movement in the coming month or so. he has to show some the momentum. you are no

but let's start with governor desantis. don't want to overdo this, but i don't think you underdo it either. people are watching you on day one. he tried to make the case to republicans, i'm the guy that can beat trump. often you see disagreement in the fractured media, but conservative publications, awkward silence. ron desantis just flopped. to safe spaces, twitter launch debacle. the question is, does it matter? >> i actually don't think that it does in the long-term. i think last night was an u unmitigated disaster. there was moments of silence, there was an echo. it was uncomfortable for people listening. you didn't get much out of the announcement. even afterwards with the conversation, there was no real substance. musk was talking about himself for a long period of time. but i do think that down the road, it doesn't actually matter to voters. one of the things we have realized from 2016 and from donald trump is that all of the things that we once thought were so important really aren't to the american people. and i be

desantis is a candidate for president. he'll be running in a republican primary against donald trump and several other candidates, and those candidates are starting to pile on and go after him. you've got to imagine that is going to continue after tonight's rollout. >> it certainly is, right, and of course you know he was clearly going to be a candidate, right right, but now it's formal. we're going to see whether things change in polling and otherwise. steve, thank you very much, reporting from miami. i want to go to david urban, trump 2020 senior campaign adviser, and ashley allison, former national coalitions adviser for biden/harris 2020. dan, i know obviously you're going to have heard good things here. you're a major donor here. what did you make of desantis doing this on twitter? how do you think he did? >> well, i think he did well, and i think it shows, look, he's got everybody's attention, biden, trump, and all of these followers. from my understanding, look, desantis said he broke the internet. what happened ton

because -- ron desantis really is.overnor laid out strikingly detailedded plans to take the country back from the progressive elites who have taken control of it for the last decade. now, if you listened to many of the responses to it, you might think that mr. desantis' memorably inept campaign launch was the titanic, the new coke all rolled into one. it was certainly a microsoft and curious choice to announce -- novel and curious choice to announce his video live by an audio-only interview while elon musk seem to be taking the lime liepght. -- limelight. it's true that many great things have started with botched rollouts. it may also be true that if desantis fails to gain altitude, the launch problems will be the only thing that's really remembered about his campaign. but it's much more important now that desantis is able to lay out a clear case as to the why he rather than donald trump should be the republican nominee. now, we did get a stronger picture this week of the case, that case that the florida governor's goi

desantis. 5 #% for trump. 20% for desantis.f time between now and november of 2024 but can he make that much headway? >> it's a really interesting question because what polls really do is they show us a snapshot in a moment of time. desantis has lost a huge amount of momentum look back two months he was neck and neck with donald trump now is he far behind. he has a lot, a lot, a lot of ground to make up. last night's announcement was an important step for him to do that and i don't think he was able to pull it off. >> todd: good news for desantis everything went technically perfect. oh, no it didn't. let's watch the tape. >> tonight i'm pleased to announce two individuals who have done more to. [lost audio] we have got so many people here we are kind of melting the servers which is a good sign. let's see so,. >> todd: okay, which narrative moves the narrative this morning? the desantis narrative of wow! we were so popular we broke the internet or the trump narrative of you're too young. failure to launch. >> one of the biggest

that is desantis for you. mickey mouse punches harder than desantis.e is going to feel it hard pretty soon. have a great day. host: all right. let's go to michigan on the democratic line. go ahead, sue. caller: hi. as far as the debt ceiling goes in the budget, those are totally different things. that that ceiling needs to be paid because those are costs that have been incurred like our charges. if you buy something on your charge, you have to pay. you cannot say when it comes time to it and pay it, you cannot say i do not feel like paying it. that is what is going on here. i was a badgett analyst -- budget analyst for the federal government. these are two different things. what the republicans are doing is holding us hostage. they do not even care if we die. i have a mother, she is now gone, she has passed away. if they -- on their debt, these people will die. my mother had social security. her social security would be taken away. if my sister and i were not alive, she would be dead because she would have nothing, you know? republicans do not care if

this board was stacked with desantis appointees. and then disney cut to deal in the thick of night with that outgoing board before the new board could take over. of course, that was not going to make the governor happy. and then suddenly desantis started talking about building a prison x to waltzed is new world, maybe raising taxes in that area, and the disney filed a lawsuit against the governor, saying that disney was being punished for exercising its right to free speech. and then the desantis appointed board countersued disney and all of that, anderson, is still tied up in court. >> and has governor desantis responded to this latest move about this billion dollar business that is not going to be there? >> i reach out to his office today and i was in touch with his press secretary, jeremy red for. and he said that disney has announced the possibility of this project two years ago and it never really rent anywhere. but in his official statement to be he said given the company's financial straits, falling market cap and declining s

the 1 big thing is the safe spaces media for desantis.approach to roll out the campaign and spend more time in the space of a safe conservative channel. it's different from challengers and other folks in the media. the desantis rollout was twitter, conservative capitalist in elon musk. previously, he'd done just conservative podcasters. the closest to mainstream media was fox news. that was with a former republican congressman. he will be spending more time today with conservative commentators online. different from the folks in his field. tim scott announced his candidacy, he did an interview with nbc news. nikki haley will be doing a cnn town hall next week, has also done mainstream media interviews. president trump did a cnn town hall, as well, and calls reporters on their cell phones. not shying away from engaging with the mainstream media. with the desantis campaign, they want to test and see if this parallel conservative media ecosystem, if it is big enough to sustain a presidential launch. can he speak to only folks who are more sy

that desantis could contrast with trump, i think he will. i think that the way he will attack him, i don't think he will attack him over stormy daniels or other stuff, certainly not alvin bragg. he will attack him on here is what i have done, here is what i did with disney, a great example. disney trying to spin they are cutting jobs because oh, ron desantis doesn't like us, that is bs,. kennedy: would disney have done this absent -- >> they had to, i can of cover disney a lot, failure of streaming, cord cutting, espn, you can go down the list, they have not had a big hit, the company is in trouble, they got rid of old ceo and brought back old new ceo. kennedy: you said that bob iger is shadow cabinet member of the biden administration. >> he was going to be ambassador to china, he is -- >> china. >> china. my point is, his fight with disney is interesting. all -- disney -- he said it, they were enjoying years and yores corporate welfare, he said. kennedy: absolutely right that is the term. >> i am telling you, he will run on this it is comp

this is a national poll. 26% say ron desantis. he has half the support of donald trump he's in a universe by himself. everyone else is in single digits. mike pence and nikki haley next up at 6% support. but your caveat is very important. we asked people in addition to your first choice, who would you be open to supporting in this race. take a look. you see ron desantis and donald trump are running even here with overwhelming majorities of republican and republican leaners saying that they would or could support ron desantis or donald trump. republican and republican leaners for nikki haley, tim scott and mike pence are open to supporting them, even though they are not necessarily their first choice in this race. this shows potential for growth for those candidates. we also asked the flip this is a warning sign. who do you rule out right now. who would you not support. among republican and republican leaders, 60% say chris crhristi is not an option for them. that's a rough play. and mike pence, who we saw a slim majority say might

let us talk about desantis them. the republican party book has been best known for wanting a smaller government, a party that once fiscal responsibility, a historically has been pro business. i am curious what you think about something that he has done, which is basically wanting to put a bill in place, wanting to put a law in place that does not allow people to look at his past record in some of the ways he spent money, and some of the state resources being spent like on the airplane. he doesn't want people to be able to look at that and be transparent about what his history was as the governor of florida. what do you think about that as a law? >> sure. we'll start to the first part of your question, regarding his willingness to take on big business. yes, historically the republican party was very much alive with big business, but that is not the new republican party. that is not the patriotic, populist movement was a pro worker, which is pro small business. and so ron desantis has shown an incredible amount of cour

so desantis has half as much support. you see the big difference from march there where they were much closer together. it's been nearly three months of trump and his alleies hammering away. this is just one brief snapshot this time. this is just getting started and clearly, it's not likely to be looking like that at the end of the day as we get close to the vote. >> very interesting numbers, indeed. ellis stewart, yi know you workd with key members of the desantis team. how does he regain momentum? >> in large part, wolf, because he has been focused on being the governor of florida and has not been involved in the presidential campaign until now. and speaking with the campaign today, they're looking at another number that came out in the cnn poll today which is that a large swath of gop voters are willing to look at another candidate besides donald trump. that opens up the lane for desantis and many others. what they're recognizing is tha for the campaign. he is in this. this is a brass knuckles whack a mole came game mo

you see the field that desantis is jumping into.en republicans with desantis coming in later today saying they are running. then there's a question of how big is this field going to get? think of at least seven more who are either poised to enter or who are toying with entering the race. you are getting into the territory, that double digit candidate territory you saw in 2016 which raises questions about something as simple as debate stage dynamics, who gets on the stage, who doesn't get on stage, the tactics the candidates employ. the question certainly if you are desantis and you would like to consolidate as much as you can the non-trump part of the party, how much of a challenge does this present to you in terms of your ability to consolidate? that's one of the tests out of the gate for desantis. we can show you what the real clear politics average looks like. trump towering above everybody. desantis at a level -- double digits, near 20%. nobody else near 10%. the question and the opportunity for desantis as he gets to hit the re

ron desantis goes indoors.

some are saying desantis waited too long.egations that he retaliated against whistleblowers in his ranks saying, quote: the irs whistleblower you referenced alleged that the change in their work assignment came at the direction of the department of justice as a general matter and not in reference to any specific case. i believe it is important to emphasize that in any matter involving federal, judicial proceedings, the irs follows the direction of the justice department. i don't know that these allegations are even there or now they are putting the blame on the doj. >> i think this is far worse. i'm going to just say let's trust danny werfel for a moment. let's say what he says is exactly right they pulled off that investigation because they were told to by the doj. that, frankly is, far more alarming than that the irs themselves decided to, meh, let's not even look at this stuff with hunter biden. either way it's disastrous. i just want to see some people in the press corps have the curiosity to go after this story like they

that is tricky for ron desantis.— that is tricky for ron desantis. ., , ., ., ., desantis.. again there are big differences between these candidates on where they stand on abortion. !! candidates on where they stand on abortion-— on abortion. if you asked me today can — on abortion. if you asked me today can trump _ on abortion. if you asked me today can trump when i on abortion. if you asked me today can trump when a i on abortion. if you asked me i today can trump when a general election i would say absolutely not. it is not come out entirely and always say i am the most conservative, i'm going to be the most pro— life in my second term but what you get from ron desantis is the complete opposite of trump. you get a governor who signed a six—week ban in the dark of night, who didn't want any coverage of that is so desantis is walking this very conservative walk and also let's not forget what he has donein let's not forget what he has done in education and diversity studies in florida— he is taken at hard right turn but he has always been more right of trump but when we com

on tuesday desantis' wife tweeted a hype video. >> america has been worth it. >> reporter: desantis jumped in the primary following months of speculation about the florida governor's political future fueled by a national book tour and visits to key early nominating states. >> i have only begun to fight. >> reporter: as the republican fight intensifies, a new cnn poll shows former president trump leading the gop field with roughly double the support of desantis and no other candidate in double figures. but the survey also finds the republican field to be far from settled. more than 8 in 10 of those polled said they would either support or say they are opening to consider either trump or desantis. >> we have to reject the culture of losing that has i believe effected our party this recent years. we have no more time for excuses. >> reporter: desantis and trump have appeared to be on a collision course for months with the former president launching repeated attacks against the florida governor. >> he is crashing and burning. >> reporter: but desantis has been intentional in not directly attac

ron desantis.on twitter. >> we can obviously talk about this an awful lot. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is thursday, may 25th. willie, the thing is, we're in the age of twitter. we're in the age of social media. everybody is going to freak out at that exact moment, and they certainly did. there was a meltdown over the meltdown. it was bad. i mean, it was bad on so many fronts. but he raised some money. he got people talking about him today, not in a positive way. there is a long way to go. this would be like the first game of 162-game baseball season, and your star pitcher getting the ball and accidentally throwing it and hitting himself in the face. it happens. but there's 161 other games left. i mean this. >> yeah. >> but it does -- it just shows, you know, they may just have to start talking to some people who have done this before instead of relying just on themselves. because they don't want to repeat this too many times moving forward. >> yeah, some candidates launch their ca

desantis, he is at 26%. and we should note that the survey, it was taken before he announced, and also before senator tim scott announced as well. david chalian will join us in a moment. to our panel, molly ball recently wrote "time's" cover story on desantis. and jamal simmons. molly, who could have seen this coming, that twitter, which has been place that has been very glitchy, just for the average user didn't seem to be able to handle. this what do you make of the significance of this failure, as the trump campaign put it, the failure to launch here? >> right. well, you only get one chance to make a first impression, right? and so much of desantis' reputation, particularly among his fans and supporters has been this sort of well oiled machine that he has run down there in florida, right. he has a reputation for having the juggernaut of a sort of ruthless operation in the governor's office. and it's been extremely effective in florida. but when we has to get on the national stage and stumbles right out of

that's another thing desantis did. and is still doing.ouple years ago desantis unveiled a plan to recruit police officers from other states who didn't want to submit to covid vaccination requirements, to come on down and work in florida. luring them with cash, new jobs and the claim that blue lives matters mattered in the free state. according to reporting by the online media outlet daily dot obtained the full list of officers, some have histories of excessive force in their old jobs and outright violence during their new florida gigs. the guardian picked up the story, too, saying the officers include a former trainee deputy, charged with murdering her husband and an officer fired for domestic battery and kidnapping. would you hire these people? for your small business to be a caretaker for your loved one or to work with you in an office? again, ron desantis did. and now he's running for president. just about an hour ago, the prickly florida governor with a penchant for scooping up pudding into his mouth with his fingers kicked off his 20

i love ron desantis. i wish we had a governor like desantis here in arizona. he is a family man. veteran. i think he has great potential. my only concern is that he waited too long to get in the race. i wish he had announced a little bit sooner and maybe discouraged some of the other folks that decided to run. i'm afraid the vote is going to be split. >> steve: jeff, what do you think? you are down in florida. >> i'm excited he is running. i love the way he handled the pandemic. i love how he is fighting against anti-woke campaign and representing floridians all over. >> steve: okay. and quisha? >> yeah. i love governor desantis. i am excited to see him get in the race. i do want to hear, you know, all of what he plans to do for the country. he has been an excellent governor here in florida. the way he has stood up throughout the pandemic. the way he has stood up for parental rights. and getting our education system back in order to something that we can be proud of. i am extremely proud of all the work that he has done. i'm excited to hear of what his plans are for the rest of t

brand-new polls show trump gaining support and doubling his lead over desantis since march, but desantis ready for a fight. expected to spend up to $200 million to try and defeat trump. and the liberal mines are out for the former governor, the ultra maga florida isn't safe for people of color, lgbtq+ people, or even multibillion-dollar corporations. and the media is getting in on bashing desantis. >> i don't want to dislike him, i can't help it. why do you dislike people of color? what's wrong with american history? what's wrong with those folks? >> you see his lack of political skills and political judgment and a whiff of desperation here. >> obviously ron desantis is a white supremacist beer to this is what desantis tells you to do agenda. >> judge jeanine: well, it seems they are pretty upset but will he see a boost in polling today or did he wait too long to announce? >> dana: i don't have a crystal ball so i do not know what the polls will show but i personally am glad that we will see the peeling back of the curtain because desantis might run for so many months now that this is go

i don't know if ron desantis is either john mccain or barack obama, but the fact is, most people in desantis's position do not go on to win the nomination. >> he's also untested on the national stage. i mean there's been a lot of talk about, he's not necessarily the most people oriented person as a campaigner. two we know if he knows how to run against the former president? >> the does anyone? oh >> the mistake that lists desantis has made is letting trump define him. the fact that everyone is decided that ron desantis has a bad personality isn't a personable person is because donald trump has said that. i dealt with rhonda santas, he's not an expert repeal retail com politician but he can have a conversation. he hasn't gotten out there in retail politics enough. he tried it in iowa, about a week ago. we know, to mixed reviews. if you want to come back you need to talk to actual voters and get off the internet. >> how much bigger do you think the republican field is going to get? axios had a thing out yesterday that glenn youngkin is rethinking may be coming back. >> i think as people see desa

>> trump has already proven what he can do. >> reporter: and desantis. >> desantis versus trump. who would you pick >> if it was just those two? >> yeah. >> i would pick desantis. >> desantis all the way. >> why >> well, i want a winner >> and dasha joins me now. so desantis will jump into a race with donald trump far ahead. >> lester, that's true tonight a major group backing trump is saying the twitter announcement shows desantis is, quote, out of touch but sources on team desantis say that the team believes that the contrast of the past versus the future, that will be a major message for the emerging campaign is going to be at the center of this, especially doing it on twitter where trump once dominated lester >> all right, dasha burns, good to have you here tonight thank you. >>> also this evening, that scare at the white house after a large rental truck rammed into nearby security barriers. tonight what we know about the teenage driver and the seriousness of the threat officials believe he posed here is peter alexander. >> reporter: the dramatic crash caught on camera just a

ron desantis is trying to find primary voters on there. >> will be interviewing ron desantis and he has quite an announcement to make. and for the first time something like this is happening on social media and with realtime questions and answers, not scripted. >> peter: nothing about the desantis record in florida in the initial campaign ad offering, instead, just this. >> i do have the courage? is it worth the sam fies? -- sacrifice? america is worth it every single time. >> peter: officials won't talk elections, but they are happy to speak broadly about florida, particularly now that the naacp issued a travel advisory for the state. >> lawmakers, republicans in florida have attacked diversity, attacked inclusion efforts, limited the teaching of black history and launched attacks on lgbtq youth, immigrants, that is from lawmakers in florida. >> peter: who else could be entering the race? glenn youngkin, tim scott is in and he's raised 2 million in the first 24 hours and out with this new ad. >> i rose from a child of poverty to a candidate for president of the united states because we