Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blasted former President Donald Trump, his potential main adversary in 2024, by saying it’s time to actually build a US-Mexico border wall.
“And I just think we’ve been talking a lot, but I think we need to get serious and finally build a wall along the southern border — that needs to be done,” DeSantis said from the podium at an event in Georgia Thursday to support to promote his new book The Courage to be Free.
A focus of Trump’s 2016 campaign was the southern border immigration crisis and his promise to build a wall to prevent mass immigration from Mexico and other countries. But even with two years of Republican-controlled Congress after the first White House victory, Trump was unable to complete the wall; About 450 miles of new, replacement, or secondary boundary walls were built, most of which replaced existing barriers.
DeSantis has yet to enter the race, and Fox News’ latest national poll shows Trump has extended the lead in the Republican primary race.
DESANTIS LETS IN VIDEO DETAILS OF ‘THE FLORIDA BLUEPRINT’ IN RECENT INDICATION OF 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (Octavio Jones)
A list of 15 announced and potential candidates for the 2024 nomination was read to Republican primary voters. The poll released Wednesday showed Trump has doubled his lead since February, up 30 points, 54% to 24%, over DeSantis. Last month it rose 15 points, 43% to 28%.
Nobody else hits double digits. Mike Pence was third with 6%, Liz Cheney and Nikki Haley each got 3%, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott got 2%. All others received 1% support or less.
During the event at the Adventure Outdoors gun store in Smyrna, Georgia, DeSantis commended the state for being one of the few states to limit lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Without states like Georgia and Florida, people like Fauci would have won,” DeSantis said Thursday, referring to the now-retired Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“You would have had it all [locking down] throughout the country. They wanted to do rolling lockdowns,” he said.
DESANTIS UNVEILS 2024 SCHOOL BOARD TARGET LIST TO BLOCK ‘AWAKE’ IDEOLOGY FROM FLORIDA CLASSROOMS
Then-President Donald Trump (left) introduces Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a campaign event November 26, 2019 in Sunrise, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Last month, DeSantis released a new campaign video “The Florida Blueprint” for America, another indication that he is preparing to launch a 2024 presidential campaign.
“When the world was going insane, when common sense suddenly became an uncommon virtue, Florida was a haven of sanity, a citadel of freedom for our fellow Americans and even for people around the world.” said DeSantis in the video.
FOX NEWS POLL: TRUMP’S LEAD GROWING IN GOP PRIMARY RACE, NOW ABOVE 50% SUPPORT
DeSantis drew a contrast between the Sunshine State and the Biden administration’s handling of important issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the southern border crisis.
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Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.
Source : www.foxnews.com