Teflon Ron for America: a Ron DeSantis TL

[Real Texan Politics]

November 11, 2023: Fourth Republican Primary Debate

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Location: Weidner Center for the Performing Arts, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in Green Bay, Wisconsin

Winner(s): DeSantis

Loser(s): Haley

Biggest Fight(s) of the Night: DeSantis vs Haley

The fourth republican primary debate was held in Green Bay, Wisconsin, due to republicans hoping to make gains in rural Wisconsin, as well as the small and mid-sized cities throughout the state. As it was held on November 11th, or Veterans' Day in the United States, this debate served as the "foreign policy debate", while also discussing topics like trade and economics due to Wisconsin being a populist leaning state economically.

Due to new polling rules from the RNC, not all candidates were able to participate. The ones left out due to low polling included Will Hurd, Chris Christie, and Andrew Giuliani, although Matt Gaetz was VERY close to not being included either.

Highlights:

• While foreign policy was the biggest debate topic, the first topic was on trade, specifically whether fair trade or free trade were better for America. Hogan and Haley were the only two who expressed the need for free trade, but Cotton's views were more surprising, as many people saw him as more neoconservative (though less so than Haley). Cotton, alongside DeSantis, Gaetz, and Lindell, took the side of fair trade, including increased tariffs on imports from China, and a continuation of the Chinese trade war. Speaking of war, however....
• Then came the foreign policy debate. Much of the questions regarded Biden's foreign policy failures, especially including the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Nikki Haley expressed the need to restart the war in Afghanistan, with a big emphasis on removing the Taliban from power, and returning Afghanistan to pre-Taliban rule. Tom Cotton was more moderate though, as while he didn't support starting over the war, he did support sending more troops for aid purposes, and stated that the United States should be prepared for any potential attack from the Taliban. Ron DeSantis agreed with the third part of Cotton's statement, but took major issue with Haley's views, and this ended up being the biggest fight of the night. DeSantis stated, that as a veteran of the Iraq War, he did not want to see even one soldier sacrificed in the name of "nation-building", and while criticizing Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal failures, also stated that the withdrawal from Afghanistan was long overdue.
• Also because of the debates being held on Veterans' Day, there was also discussion on veteran treatment in the US, as well as veteran suicide prevention. All candidates, obviously and thankfully, supported putting an end to the veteran suicide epidemic. One solution that every candidate agreed on was investing more into crisis hotlines. Thankfully, this process had already started, with the suicide hotline being reduced to a 3 digit number, 988, instead of the old 10 digit number, therefore helping people suffering with suicidal thoughts remember the hotline easier. An interesting proposal, however, came from Ron DeSantis, who stated that he was open to the idea of a "reverse boot camp" that would help veterans get back into shape as civilians in the United States, a proposal not seen by any other candidate since Andrew Yang in 2020.
  

[Real Texan Politics]

November 16, 2023: Will Hurd Suspends Campaign, Endorses Larry Hogan

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Will Hurd, the former moderate republican representative from Texas, has suspended his presidential campaign, and endorsed fellow moderate republican candidate Larry Hogan. It is speculated that if Hogan wins the nomination, Hurd could be his running mate.

Hurd was one of the lowest polling candidates in the primary field, due to his "RINO" leaning views and lower name recognition outside of south Texas, where he originates.

November 20, 2023: Caitlyn Jenner Endorses Ron DeSantis, "The Leader the Free World Needs"

Caitlyn Jenner, a transgender activist (formerly known as Bruce Jenner, an olympic athlete) known for her conservative views (something very unique among transgender people), has endorsed Ron DeSantis for president.

Jenner famously ran for governor of California in the 2021 recall election and 2022 election, both times as a republican, where both times she failed to reach the top of the republican list. Much of her focus for both runs was about Newsom's "tyrannical response" to the COVID-19 pandemic, in sharp contrast to Ron DeSantis' pandemic response.

DeSantis offered no comment about Jenner's endorsement, but her endorsement did get hit with a lot of backlash from both the left and the right.

Current Major Candidates

Republicans:

Former Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland

Former UN Ambassador and former Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina

Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida

Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas

Businessman Mike Lindell of Minnesota

Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida

Former Congressman Will Hurd of Texas

Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska

Former Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey

Former Political Advisor Andrew Giuliani of New York

Democrats:

Vice President Kamala Harris of California

Activist Nina Turner of Ohio

[Real Texan Politics]

Now for a side-note:

Due to the recent announcement that Casey DeSantis, the wife of Ron DeSantis and first lady of Florida, has been diagnosed with breast cancer, I am unsure about the future of this TL.

I want to continue it with a happy ending, but I'm unsure if I should.

With that said, I'm hoping for a swift recovery for Casey, and I'm sending all my love to the DeSantis family.

[Real Texan Politics]

Now for a side-note:

Due to the recent announcement that Casey DeSantis, the wife of Ron DeSantis and first lady of Florida, has been diagnosed with breast cancer, I am unsure about the future of this TL.

I want to continue it with a happy ending, but I'm unsure if I should.

With that said, I'm hoping for a swift recovery for Casey, and I'm sending all my love to the DeSantis family.

UPDATE:

I have made the decision to continue this TL. For the purposes of this TL, Casey DeSantis will have beaten cancer (which I hope and pray happens in real life as well).

Also for those who did originally notice the Colin Powell endorsement of Nikki Haley in the endorsements list post, I have removed it due to the death of Powell yesterday. May he rest in peace.