Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have their own objectives and strengths ahead of Thursday night’s highly anticipated debate.
For DeSantis, this forum is a home game.
Moderator Sean Hannity may have some chemistry with Newsom, but he is first and foremost a conservative, and he has a vested interest in presiding over an event where DeSantis wins.
Presidential candidate Florida Gov. and Republican Ron DeSantis make remarks during a debate against Gavin Newsom of California in Alpharetta, Georgia, on November 30, 2023. FOX News Gov. Florida and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis speaks to the media after debating California’s Gavin Newsom in Alpharetta, Georgia, November 30, 2023. REUTERS
As the only presidential candidate on stage, DeSantis’ somewhat pressing goal was to kick off his shaky campaign.
Newsom, on the other hand, is playing with house money.
His goal is to make himself a national figure and the future face of the Democratic Party.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and California’s Gavin Newsom during their televised debate on Nov. 30. 2023. Reda, Reda, /X
And since he is not a candidate for anything, he has the privilege of trying to make the jump risk-free.
At the end of the contested hour, both men had made progress toward their respective goals, but only one – DeSantis – could call it a victory.
His progressive counterparts resisted, thanks to his nagging gift.
Gavin Newsom of California appears on Fox News during his debate with DeSantis in Alpharetta, Georgia, on November 30, 2023. FOX News
DeSantis called him a “slick, slippery politician.”
All things considered, there are worse insults to absorb, but the kicker stings: “…whose state failed.”
That line succinctly sums up the entire event.
Florida Gov. and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis speak in the spin room after a debate hosted by Fox News, in Alpharetta, Georgia, on November 30, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
The truth is that DeSantis won that debate long before he appeared for it, not by being a better politician, but a better chief executive.
In issue after issue, those facts support DeSantis’s argument and refute Newsom’s.
California spends more on education with worse results.
Florida has less strict gun laws and fewer mass shootings.
Crime is much higher in the Golden State and unemployment is much lower in the Sunshine State.
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Newsom starts each question in a hole.
To his credit, he claws and claws and smoothly talks the audience in circles in an admirable effort to crawl out of them.
But his overly hostile and aggressive attempts to skewer his opponents played right into DeSantis’ hands, allowing DeSantis to appear both more mature and presidential and giving the impression that he had the better argument on substance.
DeSantis is at his best when he makes his case with illustrative yet sensible framing.
“You almost have to try” to get people to leave California, DeSantis said at one point.
After Newsom referenced his feud with the Walt Disney Corporation, the Republican noted that he kept the company “profitable” by keeping it open during COVID while Newsom shut it down.
He scored another point when he blasted Newsom for closing public schools while sending his own children to private schools.
DeSantis’ willingness to jump into the ring with his political opponents and perform well in them can be contrasted with the Republican front-runner, who refuses to show up for debate.
Newsom, too, distinguished himself from his party’s standard-bearers with his ability to express himself well and exude vitality.
And for us viewers, it’s a glimpse of what a race between two energetic governors with different but viable visions to offer the country’s future will look like.
Americans seem uncompromising in their drive to condemn themselves to a 2020 rematch.
But maybe Thursday night’s debate will inspire them to see reason.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
