On Wednesday, we heard Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida declare his presidential candidacy. Trump’s attacks on the governor have intensified recently as he prepares for a challenge that the outgoing president has called a sign of disloyalty.
In an intriguing hypothetical posed on Tuesday, Fox News anchor Jesse Watters wondered how DeSantis would respond if federal authorities arrested Donald Trump, the guy he is challenging for the GOP presidential ticket.
Watters noted to Charlie Hurt, his guest, that DeSantis waited a while to jump in.
Hurt said that DeSantis’ polling goes down the more he campaigns for office, but in his opinion, poll results are meaningless now. They have zero significance, he said.
But Hurt was fascinated by the notion of Joe Biden having Donald Trump arrested.
“What does DeSantis say if Biden and the federal DOJ arrests Trump?” Watters asked.
Biden is not directly involved in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Trump’s conduct after the 2020 election and his preservation of federal papers after leaving office, but Watters asked him about it anyway.
“Good question,” Hurt replied.
Hurt described the DeSantis dilemma as having many such hornets’ nests he must deal with and find the answer to the Trump arrest question.
He said DeSantis’s tremendous support in Florida challenges him. He’s accomplished a lot in Florida. But if you talk to Floridians who support him, they’re fans because they’ve benefited from his policies and initiatives. If you’re from Iowa, Ron DeSantis’s Florida policies haven’t impacted you. And now he must figure out how to communicate that.
Watters asked Hurt if it would help if DeSantis said he’d pardon the former president.
Hurt said that that would be an excellent first step.
Typically, the arrest of one’s political opponent would help one’s cause. But Trump has a core of supporters who think he’s been unfairly targeted by political foes.
If DeSantis piled on, it could only paint him as being part of the deep state swamp.
