After a loss in Iowa and not particularly promising prospects in New Hampshire, along with reported problems inside his campaign and with its budget, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and decided to back former President Donald Trump for the 2024 nomination and election.
DeSantis did so in a video posted to X on the afternoon of Sunday, January 21, which he captioned with a Winston Churchill quote, saying, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
In the video, Governor DeSantis said, “Greetings from Florida, the warmth of being home as a reminder why I’ve chosen public service from joining the United States Navy and serving in Iraq to representing the people in the US Congress, and now serving as governor of Florida. And it reminds me why I decided to run for president: to fight for those who have been forgotten in this country.”
Continuing, he explained the stakes of the election, saying, “This is America’s time for choosing, we can choose to allow a border invasion, or we can choose to stop it. We can choose reckless borrowing and spending, or we can choose to limit government and lower inflation. We can choose political indoctrination, or we can choose classical education. These choices are symptoms of the underlying struggle to ensure that constitutional government can endure and that Western civilization can survive.”
Returning to his campaign, he said, “And we launched this campaign to bring accountability to government regain sovereignty at our border and restore sanity to our society. We cannot succeed as a country if we allow our nation to be invaded our currency to be debased, our cities to crumble and our kids to be indoctrinated. The DC elites who facilitated this mess, do not care about you, and they do not work for you. They work for themselves, they seek to accumulate power at your expense, to pursue an agenda that is harmful to the American people. citizens do not serve politicians. It is the duty of politicians to serve you. Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words.”
He then argued that America needs leadership capable of reversing America’s decline, saying, “Reversing the decline of this nation requires leadership that delivers big results for the people we are elected to serve. I have a record of leading with conviction, championing an agenda marked by bold colors, delivering on my promises, and defeating the people who are responsible for our nation’s decline. That is the type of leadership we need for all of America.”
Then, after describing his campaign travel schedule, Gov. DeSantis said, “Now following our second-place finish in Iowa, we’ve prayed and deliberated on the way forward. If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome, more campaign stops more interviews, I would do it. But I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don’t have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign.”
And, after making that huge announcement, he threw his endorsement behind Trump, saying, “I’m proud to have delivered on 100% of my promises, and I will not stop now. It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance, and they see Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him. While I’ve had disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the corona virus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current incumbent Joe Biden. That is clear. I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will honor that pledge. He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican Guard of yesteryear, or repackage formed have warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents the days of putting Americans last of kowtowing to large corporations of caving to woke ideology are over.”
He then thanked all those who helped him try to win the nomination, saying, “I thank all of our passionate supporters who have stood by us through it all that we had people volunteer to come to Iowa in the middle of a blizzard to knock on doors and make phone calls touched us dearly. no candidate had more thrown at them. But no candidate had so many committed volunteers and staff.”
Concluding with a positive note about his family, the Florida Governor said, “Finally, I want to thank my wife Casey and our kids, Madison Mason and Mamie Casey has gone far above and beyond in her support for our campaign and for our cause. She’s not only a great wife and mother, she’s a great American who cares deeply about the future of the country that our kids will inherit. Our kids have seen and done a lot on the trail from playing on the fame Field of Dreams baseball sight and Iowa to making their first snowman in New Hampshire. They are one of the reasons we fight so hard for what we believe in. Winston Churchill once remarked that Success is not final failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts. While this campaign has ended. The Mission Continues down here in Florida. We will continue to show the country how to lead. Thank you and God bless.”
Watch him here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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