TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida's governor went after China while announcing his presidential foreign policy plans. Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump's legal troubles mount, but his polling remains strong.
It was another wild week on the 2024 campaign trail for the two Floridians seeking the White House.
"An American Century"
Gov. Ron DeSantis spent Friday morning laying out his foreign policy agenda for members of the Heritage Foundation, speaking at an event in Washington, D.C. He said China was the primary focus.
DeSantis' plan called for treating the Asian nation like "the Soviets" — potentially taking the U.S. back to a Cold War posture. In his speech, the governor said, "Peace can only be achieved through strength," and vowed to modernize the nation's military to deter Chinese aggression.
DeSantis' specifics included: improved nuclear and space deterrence, decoupling the American economy from China, better technology to defend Taiwan and a four-ocean Navy with hundreds more warships over the coming years.
"We can't be diluted with happy talk. Decline will not be averted by looking at our situation through rose-colored glasses, telling Americans that everything is fine and that there is no limit to what we can presently do," DeSantis said. "That type of happy talk is as off base as the notion that decline is inevitable. So, our goal from a national security perspective, vis-à-vis the CCP, is very simple: We win and they lose."
The governor has put a big focus on foreign policy in recent weeks following the Hamas attack in Israel. Back in the Sunshine State, DeSantis has supported an upcoming special session to sanction Iran and approve resolutions supporting the Jewish state's autonomy and self-defense.
On the Attack
The push on foreign policy comes as DeSantis continues to struggle in the polls. Both national and early state surveys show him remaining in a distant second place behind the ongoing frontrunner, Trump.
As the January Iowa caucuses and subsequent early state primaries draw near, DeSantis now seems to be taking bigger and bigger swings at Trump. While DeSantis declined to criticize his former ally's character during a Thursday evening interview with CNN, his campaign is on the offense — hitting Trump with a new ad chronicling recent gaffs.
While traveling alongside New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu this week, DeSantis quipped that Trump needs a teleprompter to stay on message.
"He is wed to the teleprompter," DeSantis said. "He can't get off that teleprompter. Every time he does, he's telling people don't vote. He's telling people not to vote?"
Trump was speaking in Derry, New Hampshire, on Monday when he made the comments. The former president was again referencing unfounded claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
"So we have to be careful, you gotta get out there and you got to watch those voters," Trump said. "You don't have to vote, don't worry about voting. The voting, we got plenty of votes, you gotta watch."
Time Court-side
Most of the week, Trump seemed more focused on mounting legal woes than the election. On Wednesday, he stormed out of his civil fraud trial in New York — frustrated over testimony given by his former fixer, Michael Cohen. Add to that a $10,000 fine the judge issued after Trump was said to have violated a gag order.
"The witness just admitted that we won the trial, and the judge should end this trial immediately," Trump told reporters as he abruptly left the courtroom. "Thank you."
Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Medows, also reportedly agreed to work with federal prosecutors in an immunity deal. Plus, a third former campaign lawyer, Jenna Ellis, joined multiple Trump allies who have taken plea deals for their efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.
"I failed to do my due diligence," Ellis told the court in a Wednesday statement. "I believe in and I value election integrity. If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges."
Ellis was the latest to avoid prison time by agreeing to testify against her former co-defendants, including Trump, in the Fulton County courtroom. Will it impact the race? The nation waits to find out.
