By Terry M. Thacker, Times Examiner Reporter
DeSantis Speaking Victor Bellmore
2024 Presidential Candidate and Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis speaking before a large Carolina crowd in Greenville, SC - Photo by Victor Bellmore.

Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis stumped in the Palmetto State this past Friday, finishing the day at the Expo Center in Greenville.

Over a thousand people showed up to hear the Florida governor speak for nearly an hour, touting his accomplishments as governor and declaring what he plans to do if elected to the White House. On several occasions, he received thunderous applause and even a few standing ovations.

Many of those in attendance are already in DeSantis' corner. Others came to hear what he had to say before making up their minds. Undecided voters have over eight months before they have to make their decision in the voting booth.

Several individuals have already made official announcements and others are on the verge of officially throw in their hat. Former President Donald Trump is in the lead in early polls, with DeSantis a distant second.

DeSantis Prayer Group
Pastors and Faith Leaders pray over DeSantis and his wife as Dr. Bob Jones III (not seen in photo) leads. - Photo by Terry M. Thacker

Before the 6:00 p.m. rally, DeSantis, accompanied by his wife, Casey, met with a few dozen faith leaders and their wives who had been invited to the meet and greet by Faith Wins, a group headed by Chad Connelly that promotes Christian involvement in public affairs. At the end of the brief meeting, Dr. Bob Jones III, former president of Bob Jones University, led the group in prayer.

During the rally, Joe Biden, the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, came under criticism from DeSantis.

Our great American comeback begins when we send Joe Biden back to his basement in Delaware,” DeSantis started. He said that Biden's fall on stage at a recent speech was a metaphor for how the country is going. He said that Biden has been a “disaster.”

DeSantis Crowd 1
A maxed-out crowd of around 1,500 attended the DeSantis stomp rally in Greenville, SC. - Photo by James Spurck

The country is clearly going in the wrong direction,” said DeSantis, referring to the illegal alien crisis at the southern border, inflation, domestic energy production, cities being overrun with crime, the bureaucracy being weaponized against “people like us,” the woke “mind virus” infecting educational institutions, medical tyranny such as lockdowns, as well as the weakening of the military due to 'woke' ideology and low morale.

Despite all of this, DeSantis gave hope to his listeners. “I don't think America is in decline,” he said. But first, “we need to restore sanity to our society.” He said that Florida has shown the way.

Speaking of Florida's response to the COVID-19 crisis, DeSantis said, “We've refused to let our state descend into some type of Faucian dystopia (speaking of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading promoter of the federal government's COVID policies),” “We chose freedom over Fauciism,” he added, saying, “If we had not stood up when we did, I think this country would have ended up on rolling lockdowns for two years and this country would have been way worse off as a result.”

Florida, which has a Republican minority in both houses to back up the Republican DeSantis, has banned vaccine mandates.

There will be a reckoning of the federal government's “disastrous” Covid policies – lockdowns, school closures, mask mandates, restrictions if he is elected, said DeSantis.

We're going to bring about accountability for the people that perpetrated those bad policies because we have to make sure that it can never happen again in these United States,” said DeSantis.

DeSantis also said that Florida under his watch has banned land purchases by the Chinese Communist Party, sanctuary cities for illegal aliens, ballot harvesting, and critical race theory from being taught in the schools.

DeSantis Signing
2024 Presidential Candidate Ron DeSantis makes his rounds to greet rally attendees after his speech. - Photo by James Spurck

Florida has also enacted a pro-life heartbeat bill as well as constitutional carry. Two bridges that were damaged after Hurricane Ian were repaired much quicker by the state than the federal government had estimated. He said that Florida was the first state to eliminate DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion, which DeSantis describes as “discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination”) from its universities.

DeSantis said that, unlike the federal government, which just voted to raise the nation's debt limit, his state runs surpluses. “Don't tell me these things can't be managed better,” he said.

DeSantis is against gender ideology being taught in the schools. “The sexualization of children is wrong,” he said. Riley Gaines, the competitive swimmer who was robbed of her trophy because it was awarded to a so-called 'trans' individual who had tied her in a swim meet, spoke briefly before the governor's appearance.”

DeSantis mentioned his fight with the Disney corporation, which promotes gender ideology. “We ended Disney's self-governing status in the state of Florida,” he said, noting that some Republicans have attacked him for standing up to Disney. Indeed, one of his fellow Republican presidential candidates, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, has 'invited' Disney to move to this state.

If DeSantis can manage to win the Republican nomination next year and then the general election in November, he already has goals in mind that he wants to achieve.

We're going to reverse Biden's disastrous economic policies,” he said. He will also expand domestic energy production and shut down the southern border.

DeSantis said that, “As president we will wage a war on the woke. We will never surrender to the woke mob. We are going to leave the woke ideology in the dustbin of history where it belongs.”

He said that he would revitalize the military, which has been demoralized by the pushing of the woke political ideology. “On day one we're going to take all that Biden nonsense and we're ripping it out by the rivets,” said DeSantis to a standing ovation.

After finishing his speech, DeSantis stepped down from the stage and mingled for several minutes with the throngs of admirers hoping for an autograph and a picture.

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