Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday ventured outside of conservative media circles in the hopes of putting a damper on the storyline his GOP presidential run has failed to live up to the hype.
Stuck in distant second place behind former President Donald Trump in the polls, the governor is fighting to build confidence in his ability to win the nomination and oust President Biden amid reports that the DeSantis campaign is burning through cash, laying off staff and losing some big donors.
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Mr. DeSantis downplayed the idea his two-month-old campaign is losing steam. He said naysayers have unsuccessfully used that worn-out narrative against him throughout his political rise.
“I think that analysis is wrong,” he said. “I was basically taking fire nonstop since then because a lot of people view me as a threat.”
Mr. DeSantis said he is building out his campaign operation in early primary states and his successful fundraising operation shows he is a force in the race.
Mr. DeSantis carried loads of momentum coming out of the 2022 midterm elections. He notched a landslide reelection victory and was credited with leading Florida Republicans to victories up and down the ticket.
The results provided a clear contrast with Mr. Trump, who backed a slate of candidates who lost winnable Senate races, dashing the GOP’s hopes of flipping the upper chamber.
It also helped Mr. DeSantis raise $20 million over the first six weeks of his campaign.
But Mr. Trump has had a commanding lead in national and early state polls, reinforcing his image as the de facto incumbent.
Mr. DeSantis said his critics are “almost trying too hard” to convince the world he is struggling.
“They always want to get there, but it never quite works out,” he said. “I think some of this is motivated reasoning.”
The CNN interview came during a campaign swing through South Carolina where Mr. DeSantis became the first candidate to file for South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary — the first-in-the-South primary.
The state is home to two other GOP presidential contenders: Sen. Tim Scott and Nikki Haley, former United States ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina governor.
As he campaigned in the Palmetto State, Mr. DeSantis rolled out his plan to “rip the woke” out of the military.
He called for requiring transgender military members to serve under the gender assigned at birth, doing away with diversity initiatives, and reinstating personnel who were dismissed for refusing the coronavirus jab.
He said the military has “been ordered by civilian officials to pursue political ideology, to pursue social experimentation, to be yet another institution in American life that gets infected with the woke mind virus.”
The message was overshadowed by Mr. Trump‘s announcement that the Justice Department notified him he is the target of a criminal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Asked about the news, Mr. DeSantis said he is concerned the Justice Department and FBI are targeting individuals for political reasons. He said his job if elected will be “to restore a single standard of justice to end the weaponization of these agencies.”
He said another Trump indictment would be bad for the nation.
Kelley Koch, chair of the Dallas County Iowa GOP, said the DeSantis camp has been doing a lot of things right but the open question is: “Why can’t you break the barrier and close the gap on Trump?”
Ms. Koch, who has remained neutral in the race, expressed doubts that Mr. DeSantis has enough time to catch Mr. Trump before the state’s kickoff nominating contest on Jan. 15.
“Boy, it is a big jump,” she said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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