Washington: According to two people with knowledge of the decision, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has long been considered Donald Trump's main rival for the Republican nomination, intends to announce his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday in an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
According to the two, DeSantis, a vocal cultural conservative, will discuss his plans during a nighttime audio event that is broadcast on Twitter Spaces. They agreed to speak anonymously to The Associated Press because they weren't allowed to discuss the announcement in public.
The two-term governor, 44, enters a competitive Republican race to determine whether the party will move past Trump in 2024. DeSantis has adopted many of Trump's policies and his combative manner, but positions himself as a more youthful and electable alternative.
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DeSantis is following the same strategy that helped make businessman-turned-TV personality Trump a political star by selecting Twitter.
With numerous iterations of plans having been leaked over the past few days, the precise timing of DeSantis' eagerly anticipated announcement has been obscured. Some of his close friends believed he was giving contradictory information about the time and place in order to find leakers. Others think that after news reports about his initial plans surfaced, he changed them.
Musk appeared to confirm the Wednesday event when he said DeSantis would make "quite an announcement" on Twitter the following day while speaking at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council Summit on Tuesday in London. With live questions and answers, he declared, "This is the first time something like this is happening on social media. The announcement is planned to go forth at 6:00 PM EDT.
He continued by saying that at this time, he is not endorsing any particular candidate.
In the meantime, on Tuesday, Trump appeared via video in a New York courtroom, where the judge provisionally set the former president's criminal trial for March 25, 2019, right in the middle of the primary season.
Trump entered a not guilty plea last month to 34 felony counts of falsifying financial records at the Trump Organisation, his family business.
While campaigns frequently share videos of their announcements on social media, holding a campaign announcement in a live social media forum is much less common — and possibly unprecedented.
If true, big. Tuesday, Casey DeSantis posted on Twitter with a smiley face and a link to a Fox News article about the announcement.
Earlier on Tuesday, during a brief Cabinet meeting in Tallahassee where he spoke with agency heads about state business, the governor of Florida made no mention of his plans for 2024. The subsequent bill signing ceremony was not open to media coverage.
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DeSantis has become a rising star in Republican politics due to his unflinching leadership on divisive issues.
To draw attention to the large number of immigrants from Latin America attempting to enter the United States from the South, the governor dispatched dozens of immigrants from Texas via Florida to a tiny island off the coast of Massachusetts.
The "Don't Say Gay" law, which prohibits teaching about or engaging in classroom discussion of LGBTQ issues in Florida public schools, was passed by him and later expanded.
A law banning abortions at six weeks—before most women are aware they are pregnant—was recently signed by him. Additionally, he fired an elected prosecutor who had vowed not to file charges against patients who violated Florida's new abortion laws or physicians who provide care that is gender affirming.
Tuesday, Trump's allies criticised DeSantis's strategy.
"This campaign launch is among the most out-of-date in recent memory. DeSantis' after party at the ultra-exclusive Four Seasons resort in Miami is the only thing less relatable than a niche campaign launch on Twitter, according to Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump's super PAC.
Trump regularly disparages his opponent as Ron "DeSanctimonious."
DeSantis is tying his presidential announcement to one of the richest men in the world, who has become something of a conservative cult hero, by choosing to make it with Musk.
Since acquiring Twitter in October of last year, Musk has restored the previously deleted accounts of several well-known Republicans, including Trump and Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Popular conservative broadcasters have flocked to Twitter, with the hosts of The Daily Wire podcast and ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson both announcing they will begin streaming on the site.
Musk himself has promoted far-right conspiracy theories on Twitter, including untrue allegations regarding the background of a Texas mall shooter and a rumour that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband was involved with the attacker who attacked him.
The Anti-Defamation League criticised Elon Musk earlier this month for his tweets comparing the wealthy philanthropist George Soros to a Jewish supervillain, claiming that they would encourage antisemitic extremists. Musk responded to the criticism of Soros on Twitter by apologising and promising to "be more thoughtful in the future."
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In the past, Trump's most significant platform was Twitter, which he used to dominate his opponents in the 2016 presidential primary and to dominate the news cycle for years. After January 6, 2021, Trump was prohibited from using the podium. Although his access was quickly restored after Musk assumed control, he has not yet tweeted.
According to a Pew Research Centre study from last year, roughly 1 in 5 US adults claim to use Twitter.
According to a December Fox News poll, Democrats are slightly more likely than Republicans to claim to have Twitter accounts. Democrats are significantly less likely than Republicans to think Musk's acquisition of Twitter was a good move and to have a positive opinion of him.
