Some this morning. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is in New York where he spoke at a rally there supporting law enforcement We support strong policies to keep our communities safe and we back the blue and we support their mission. And we back it up with money and all kinds of stuff to be able to do it. The reason why you have what you have in some of these other jurisdictions is because they’re putting woke ideology ahead of your safety as New Yorkers or as people from Illinois or wherever. You have this type of policy taking place where U.S. police NYPD do say that they need better gun safety measures as well to fight crime.
The government has not announced that he is running for president. He seemed to be courting, however, New York voters this morning. His visit comes as some conservatives are concerned about how his fantasies using his government powder in Florida in his fight against what he calls their wokeness. And Steve King joins us now. Steve, what specifically are Republican leaders worried about Jim, there are a couple of factors at play here. First is you have conservative donors and and organizations that generally believe that government shouldn’t be in the business of businesses and that some of the steps taken by Governor Santos have inflicted his conservative ideology on state institutions. And businesses and sometimes even punishing businesses that run afoul of his point of view.
We’ve seen, obviously, that has played out publicly in his fight with Disney over the so-called don’t say gay bill, but we’ve also seen him punish businesses for their vaccination and mask policies. We’ve seen him put restrictions on how businesses can train their employees around issues of racism. We’ve seen him now say he wants to go after banks that lend in ways that he doesn’t agree with. So there’s that part of it. But there’s also Republicans, including his supporters, who are worried that he might be flying a little bit too close to the sun with his war on wokeness. You know, this most recent spat with the College Board over this AP African-American studies class.
I mean, he is now talking about potentially pulling AP classes out of Florida entirely, finding alternatives to the S.A.T.. These are things that parents around the country use to help their students get into good colleges. To save a bit of money on their higher education. And there are concerns that they don’t know how this is going to play out nationally when this stuff when he starts campaigning in a national campaign. And what we’re seeing is Republican candidates starting to seize on this a bit, especially those who are starting to want to turn the page from these Trump era politics. Are we seeing Governor Sununu of New Hampshire, former Governor Hogan of Maryland, Governor Hutchinson of Arkansas, they have all raised concern with how the stances has been so heavy handed with businesses.
Now, Jim, Governor Sanchez remains very popular in Florida. He’s growing popularity across the country. He has quite a bit of support among those who want to see him challenge President Donald Trump. But these are the questions he is going to face from Republican voters and from his potential competitors if he does jump into that race. Steve King, thanks so much. Joining us now, Molly Ball, a national political correspondent for Time magazine, Somali. The conventional wisdom, which I generally hate, had been to some degree that DeSantis was the kind of anti-Trump candidate, someone who could get the MAGA voters to to back him. But not be Trump in effect. You would hear that from some Republicans, but to hear some conservatives now concerned that DeSantis, his positions in Florida, might be too out there, what are we seeing within the Republican Party right now?
Well, I think a lot of it is that without an official candidacy by DeSantis, a lot of this is just filling a vacuum with sort of speculation and rumor. Look, a lot of the things that Republican voters really like about Governor DeSantis are the similarities with Trump, chiefly his willingness to use the force of the state, state coercion, in some cases to punish businesses and to enforce the sort of culture war initiatives that he has his eye on. And so that is, I think, viewed as a strength by many of the Sanders’s fans. And it’s the sort of similarity with Trump he’s been able to. And I think this is also a sign of how the Republican Party has sort of realigned itself ideologically around the Trump axis since Trump first became a candidate.
Now, nearly a decade ago, these concerns about the size and scope of government and the sort of ideological libertarianism that used to underlie a lot of Republican doctrine is really not as much on people’s minds as it used to be. And so a lot of the candidates who are more overtly against the sort of legacy that Trump has left in the party are, of course, going to object to that. But I think that is one of the things that for many Republican base voters is a strength for DeSantis. Yeah, interesting. You note it is eight years since that ride down the escalator, four for Trump. I want to play something that Nikki Haley, of course, has already announced her candidacy for 20, 24 said during her travels through Iowa this week regarding Social Security and Medicare. Have a listen. I want to get your reaction There is an issue of entitlements, and I think that we do have to address entitlements.
However, I don’t think we take away from anyone that we’ve promised things to. I think we focus on the new generation coming into the system because they already know they’re not going to get anything from it. And we need to get in front of that. And that means you go and you look at the new ones coming in and you keep your promises to those that have already been in the system. I listen to that. That sounds a lot to me like saying, okay, you’re already receiving Medicare, Social Security, you won’t be touched. But the promise to those of us who are paying right now may not be capped. Right. I mean, that sounds to me like entitlements are on the table. And this is a candidate for for the Republican nomination in 20, 24 Well, and again, I feel like I’m having flashbacks to 2015. Right. I mean this is exactly sort of the the Paul Ryan line of the old Republican Party, which was very determined to enact some sort of entitlement reform.
And it is still the case that a lot of fiscal conservatives, party donors, sort of Old-School, Republican types who believe that the spending on these programs is unsustainable and there does have to be some reform. And it has always been the case that these sort of plans to reform entitlements for the most part have targeted future beneficiaries, not current beneficiaries who are already receiving or who are potentially about to receive these benefits. But it is obviously something that Trump has made a litmus test for the party and has made a dividing line in the party, and that we have seen become a source of tension in the party between, for example, Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott, because these entitlement programs are incredibly, incredibly popular. You know, 80 90% of voters do not want to see any changes to Social Security They’re just viewed as a guarantee and something that that many Americans feel like they’ve earned. So, you know, that was a big part of Trump’s success in 2016 and and I think it’s something that again the party has sort of realigned itself around to the point where it’s become it’s always been sort of a third rail and it’s become something that is seen as sort of untouchable. So this is going to be, I think, a live debate in the party in the primaries this year. Yeah. They’re not describing it as untouchable. And by the way, we’re all paying into it now right just watch your paycheck every two weeks as those contributions still go in, whatever the discussions. Molly Ball, thanks so much.
