Desantis is going to have a tough time on the Ukrainian topic

[Agafin]

I've just come across this article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/business/media/ron-desantis-murdoch-media.html

And this excerpt in particular caught my attention:

Despite the seemingly cordial tone of the interview, Mr. DeSantis at one point became irritated with his interlocutor.

Mr. Charter writes that when he asked Mr. DeSantis how he would handle American relations with Ukraine, the governor referred “to Biden being ‘weak on the world stage’ and failing at deterrence.”

Mr. Charter pressed for more detail: How would a President DeSantis handle the conflict in Ukraine?

“Perhaps you should cover some other ground?” the governor replied. “I think I’ve said enough

Desantis is almost always completely brazen and unapologetic with his culture war issues. The fact that he has so far completely avoided the Ukraine question to the point of getting irritated when asked about it makes me think that he actually supports Ukraine. However this puts him at odds with the GOP primary and is a big enough issue that it could be a deal-breaker for some people. Trump will relentlessly hit him on it if he figures that out and Desantis will not be able to hide from the issue for long, it would 100% be asked in a republican primary debate.

This is similar to how Trump is closer to democrats on the issue of Covid and vaccines than he is to republicans and has decided to completely stop talking about it to not alienate his voters. But Ukraine will be a more prescient issue in 2024 than covid so Trump could have an easier time dodging that topic. Desantis really has to figure out a Ukraine strategy fast or he's toast.

[Stranger in a strange land]

He's ex-military and the Cuban & Venezuelan exile community in South Florida are among his major sources of support (they hate Russia because of the Cold War, its association with Communism,  and its support for Castro, Chavez, and Maduro), so he almost certainly supports Ukraine, but he can't say so outright because pro-Russian far right social media figures will attack him for it.

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

If Trump tries to go after DeSantis on Ukraine, all he has to do, is make the suggestion that Putin has the goods on Trump and further make the suggestions that Trump is a toady to Putin, because the latter has stuff on Trump and is thus compromised as Biden is with China! And brag he's not beholden to either nation. Then DeSantis can make the point, that Ukraine cannot afford to fall. DeSantis make much of the fact, that he's the only true leader on  Ukraine, as it is a "Red Line". See Trump try to wiggle out of that issue.

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

If Trump tries to go after DeSantis on Ukraine, all he has to do, is make the suggestion that Putin has the goods on Trump and further make the suggestions that Trump is a toady to Putin, because the latter has stuff on Trump and is thus compromised as Biden is with China! And brag he's not beholden to either nation. Then DeSantis can make the point, that Ukraine cannot afford to fall. DeSantis make much of the fact, that he's the only true leader on  Ukraine, as it is a "Red Line". See Trump try to wiggle out of that issue.

So your strategy for DeSantis is to borrow Rachel Maddow talking points on Russiagate?
That's only a good strategy for getting 2% in the primaries and a job on MSNBC.

[TodayJunior]

If Trump tries to go after DeSantis on Ukraine, all he has to do, is make the suggestion that Putin has the goods on Trump and further make the suggestions that Trump is a toady to Putin, because the latter has stuff on Trump and is thus compromised as Biden is with China! And brag he's not beholden to either nation. Then DeSantis can make the point, that Ukraine cannot afford to fall. DeSantis make much of the fact, that he's the only true leader on  Ukraine, as it is a "Red Line". See Trump try to wiggle out of that issue.

That may work in a GE, but not in a Republican primary. You have to tickle their ears with sweet saccharine lies and childish lollipop propaganda and if you won’t  they don’t vote for you. Too bad so sad Little Ron Rumpelstiltskin.

It must piss him off so bad that those pesky little gop primary voters won’t stop taking the trump drug and just let him lead….the condescension is palpable. Careful Ron, your totalitarian underpants are showing. Not a good look

[MT Treasurer]

I agree that this is DeSantis's biggest potential vulnerability if he doesn’t play his cards right and probably the only major issue besides abortion and immigration that could cost him a lot of support if he doesn’t navigate it well. Going all in on a Bush-type foreign policy was one of the reasons why Rubio crashed and burned in 2016 — being a Floridian doesn’t help matters here, of course.

[Agafin]

So Ukraine  has ended up being the first issue where Desantis has had to backtrack/flip flop. I knew it, it's going to be the hardest issue to navigate for him.

[FloridaMan1845]

Nothing Ron has said is mutually-exclusive. You can denounce Putin while not wanting to send weapons to Zelenskyy.

[Ferguson97]

Nothing Ron has said is mutually-exclusive. You can denounce Putin while not wanting to send weapons to Zelenskyy.

No you can't.

"I denounce Putin, but I'm not going to do anything about it." is weak.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Nothing Ron has said is mutually-exclusive. You can denounce Putin while not wanting to send weapons to Zelenskyy.

He clarified by saying we shouldn’t escalate what we are currently doing which is very different from no aid at all

Like I said though DeSantis is gonna have an extremely tough time on this because Republicans either think we should go all the way and help restore 2013 borders or we shouldn’t get involved at all and think it doenst matter if Kyiv should fall or not .

It’s why his answers on this basically seem written by consultants as he’s trying to appease both sides here but frankly that’s gonna be extremely tough .

[Mr. Smith]

If Trump tries to go after DeSantis on Ukraine, all he has to do, is make the suggestion that Putin has the goods on Trump and further make the suggestions that Trump is a toady to Putin, because the latter has stuff on Trump and is thus compromised as Biden is with China! And brag he's not beholden to either nation. Then DeSantis can make the point, that Ukraine cannot afford to fall. DeSantis make much of the fact, that he's the only true leader on  Ukraine, as it is a "Red Line". See Trump try to wiggle out of that issue.

So your strategy for DeSantis is to borrow Rachel Maddow talking points on Russiagate?
That's only a good strategy for getting 2% in the primaries and a job on MSNBC.

Hardly a terrible fallback plan.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Nothing Ron has said is mutually-exclusive. You can denounce Putin while not wanting to send weapons to Zelenskyy.

While this is true, it's not a very viable position currently, with how things stand.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

He's not gonna win anyways because Ukraine war isn't affecting gas prices any longer it 3 and they are selling more cars now due to gas prices

[Make Canada Boring Again]

Nothing Ron has said is mutually-exclusive. You can denounce Putin while not wanting to send weapons to Zelenskyy.

Denouncing Putin without backing it up with policy is, unfortunately, just rhetoric. Without US and NATO weapons Ukraine would be mostly if not entirely under Russian control now. If the Trump or Desantis stance is 'we denounce Putin's invasion but are ok with him controlling Ukraine', we are ok with Russia continuing to encroach on even more territory and possibly start a war with NATO in the future.