TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — Multiple sources say President-elect Donald Trump is considering Governor Ron DeSantis as a replacement nominee for Secretary of Defense.
The news comes amid growing allegations against his original nominee Pete Hegseth. Hegseth has denied all wrongdoing.
Governor Ron DeSantis had his hands full with the task of appointing Senator Marco Rubio’s seat and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis’ position. Now Governor DeSantis could possibly catapult his political career to the next level and join the Trump administration.
St. Pete political analyst, Tara Newsom, shares that it is good to have these discussions now in the court of public opinion, rather than the U.S. Senate.
“If you remember Donald Trump’s Administration had the highest turnover in US history. And so, he doesn’t want to come into his last term as president replicating that kind of chaos and so better to do this vetting upfront. Certainly, Ron DeSantis fits the mold of breaking the woke mentality in the military and that’s really what Donald Trump wanted from this defense,” said Newsom.
Political analyst J. Edwin Benton adds that Americans want the most qualified candidate possible to lead as the Defense Secretary, but these two names might not be it.
“You want someone who can give you good independent advice as defense secretary rather than just telling the president what he wants to hear,” said Benton.
Florida GOP leader Evan Power is not shocked that Trump continues to tap Floridians to join his team.
“I think it’s not shocking that the president would go to that talent pool that has been exceptionally great at delivering big wins for conservatives,” said Power.
However, Florida Democratic Party leader Nikki Fried is shocked and says that Trump and DeSantis have had a history of not getting along. Fried added that this is a tradeoff for the U.S. Senate pick and to get Lara Trump in that seat.
“Ron DeSantis feels like he needs to get something out of it. This is a bartering trade not based on policy, not based on what’s best for the people of this country but based on political favors and nepotism,” said Fried.
Neither President-elect Donald Trump nor Governor Ron DeSantis have responded to the news publicly.
Political experts highlight these nominations as a good thing for the state of Florida and say having dominant Republicans like Senator Rubio or even Possibly Governor Desantis on the national level could bring more promise to Floridians.
