Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) avoided mentioning his chief 2024 rival, former President Donald Trump, at a conservative conference in Washington, D.C. Instead, DeSantis focused his speech on a topic that has fueled his political rise: the cultural wars, most notably parental rights over gender and sexuality.
"As president of the United States, I will lead the effort to extinguish the fire of cultural Marxism once and for all," DeSantis said at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s “Road to Majority” policy conference on Friday.
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DeSantis pitched himself as the candidate in the corner of parents who want greater influence over how schools educate their children. "We believe that parents have the right to direct the education and upbringing of their children," he said after raising topics such as transgender athletes.
The governor later attacked "woke" ideology as a scourge on the nation, once again mentioning transgender topics. "Don't tell me that a man can get pregnant and expect me to accept that — I will not accept that," he said.
DeSantis also slammed Republicans who criticized his yearlong feud with Disney, which first started when the corporation condemned him for attempting to limit conversations over gender and sexuality in elementary schools. "The sad thing is this: A lot of these Republicans are siding with Disney, and they're attacking me," DeSantis said to boos.
"Here's what I will say: We oppose the sexualization of children," DeSantis added, to a standing ovation from the crowd.
DeSantis's silence on the former president is notable given his monthslong campaign to splinter Trump's dominance over the Republican base. The former president will also address the conference as the keynote speaker on Saturday evening.
Most of the Republican 2024 presidential field is speaking at the conference, a sign of the influence evangelicals still have in choosing the next GOP standard-bearer.
The gathering is also the first major conservative conference held since the Department of Justice charged Trump in a 37-criminal-count indictment over allegations that he mishandled classified documents after leaving office, obstructed justice, and made false statements.
Even as DeSantis and his affiliated super PAC, Never Back Down, have become more pointed in their criticism of Trump, they have mostly stuck to targeting "woke ideology" among corporate companies and slamming Democrats and the media on the campaign trail rather than criticizing Trump's ever-growing legal problems.
When DeSantis has addressed Trump's indictment, he's opted instead to excoriate the "weaponization" of the Department of Justice against GOP targets. At the conference, DeSantis noted: "We see a federal government whose agencies have been weaponized against their fellow Americans, including people of faith. And underlying all of that is the fact that the Left is lighting the fire of a cultural revolution all across this land."
Yet Trump and DeSantis have continued to get into spats over topics such as who best handled their COVID-19 response and who is the most qualified conservative. DeSantis appears to be running to the right of Trump, but the former president's popularity has proved difficult to dislodge.
At one point in his speech, the Florida governor didn't hesitate to slam "Faucism," a reference to Dr. Anthony Fauci, who spearheaded the nation's pandemic response under Trump.
DeSantis previously declined to elaborate on whether he would support Trump if he becomes the Republican presidential nominee. The Republican National Committee stipulates that any candidate who wants to participate in its primary debates this summer must pledge to back the eventual nominee.
The one subject Trump, DeSantis, and other 2024 hopefuls have agreed on is that Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son, received preferential treatment compared to the Republicans federal agencies have allegedly targeted. Hunter Biden will likely avoid jail time for three federal charges, a fact conservatives say is evidence of a two-tiered justice system.
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Many of the speakers at the Road to Majority conference have enthusiastically embraced an anti-abortion stance, with former Vice President Mike Pence challenging his rivals to endorse a 15-week federal ban.
DeSantis has gone further than Pence's challenge at the state level by signing into law a six-week ban. But on the campaign trail, DeSantis has been selective in championing his legislation, sometimes not even mentioning it in audiences that are receptive to looser abortion restrictions.
"We have also delivered in Florida on promoting a culture of life, and that means signing the heartbeat bill into law that protects unborn children when there is a detectable heartbeat," he said about his signature law on Friday. "It was the right thing to do."