Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is anticipating being subjected to significant scrutiny and criticism during the next GOP’s inaugural debate in the 2024 presidential contest. The letter outlines the strategic measures that DeSantis is undertaking to adequately prepare himself for the challenges he may face on the debate stage.
New campaign manager James Uthmeier’s email to contributors and supporters paints the Republican primary as a “two-man race” between DeSantis and former President Donald Trump, who is not anticipated to take part in the debate. The campaign is “fully prepared,” per the email, to “be on the receiving end of false, desperate charges from other candidates and the legacy media.”
Uthmeier states that the first debate, which will take place in Milwaukee, is the “biggest chance yet to grab headlines by attacking the governor, so we know they will try their best.” Axios was the first to report on the document, which appears to follow an attempt by a super PAC backing DeSantis to float debate strategies to the Republican presidential campaign earlier this week.
The tweet below verifies the news:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is prepared to be “the center of attacks” next week at the GOP’s first debate in the 2024 presidential race, according to a campaign memo obtained by CNN that lays out how DeSantis is preparing for the debate stage. https://t.co/KT9UMX437e
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 19, 2023
The New York Times initially reported on talking points from the super PAC Never Back Down, which urged Republican nominee Ron DeSantis to “hammer” businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and defend Trump if the latter were attacked by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. It contained suggestions for how often President Joe Biden and the media should be attacked.
Super PAC founder Ken Cuccinelli warned Sunday that releasing the document was a bad idea. Former Trump administration official and panelist at CNN’s State of the Union, Ken Cuccinelli, stated, “There isn’t a sense of knowing (DeSantis) yet like people feel like they know Donald Trump after seven or eight years,
On Saturday, DeSantis said to Fox News that he hasn’t seen Never Back Down’s debate strategy and that it’s “something we have put off to the side.” Later on Saturday, he assured reporters in New Hampshire that the super PAC’s talking lines won’t “influence what I do.” We’re going to go, we’re going to tell the truth, and we’re excited to get this job done.
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DeSantis’s campaign letter, in contrast to the talking points pushed by the super PAC, claims that during the debates, he “will be to lay out his vision to beat Joe Biden, reverse American decline, and revive the American Dream.”
“Viewers at home will see the fighter who volunteered to serve our country and deployed to Iraq after 9/11, the father who wants to restore America’s promise to future generations for his children and theirs, and the champion of freedom who stood up time and again as governor to defeat the left,” the memo states.
DeSantis told CNN Saturday that “you got to be ready for everything” on the debate stage. “I mean, people have already said, you know, I’m going to be the guy that’s taking most of the incoming,” he said, calling the attacks on him “a sign of strength.”
Candidates for the Republican presidential nomination are preparing for next week’s debate by examining the backgrounds of their opponents, including DeSantis’s work as governor of Florida and his voting record in Congress.
Strategists tell CNN that some candidates who have failed to get attention are preparing lines of attack against their better-positioned competitors, while the ultimate goal for many is just to present oneself to a broader television audience.
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