Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) didn't shy away from his persona as a battle-tested conservative who fights on cultural issues during his Wednesday night presidential announcement on Twitter Spaces.
In a session with Elon Musk and moderator David Sacks, DeSantis defended his attacks against "woke" ideology and diversity initiatives, reiterated his disdain for Disney amid a feud, pushed back against a travel advisory the NAACP issued, and declared he wasn't banning books in the Sunshine State.
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After technical problems delayed the Twitter Spaces, DeSantis rallied back to declare he was running for president and that his main calling card for the White House is the work he's done in Florida and his ability to defeat President Joe Biden. "American decline is not inevitable. It is a choice. We should choose a new direction, a path that will lead to American revitalization," said DeSantis.
Later on, he would declare that the nation should replace "the woke mind virus with reality and enduring principles. Merit must trump identity politics. We must return normalcy to our community."
On the yearlong feud with Disney stemming from the company's criticism against the Parental Rights in Education Act, DeSantis was unrepentant. "Florida stands for the protection of children. We believe jamming gender ideology in elementary school is wrong," DeSantis said.
Disney filed the lawsuit last month, slamming DeSantis and other officials for pushing a "relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials." DeSantis has been unmoved by the attacks.
"So the reason why there's a quote fight is because they filed a lawsuit in the state of Florida trying to get their special privileges re-instituted," DeSantis said of the Disney lawsuit. "But I don't think that that's good policy, and I think some of these Republicans that are taking Disney's side, they're basically showing themselves to be corporatist because these are all corporate goodies."
Fellow Republicans such as former New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie, himself a potential 2024 candidate, have slammed DeSantis for his feud with the company.
DeSantis also pushed back against media criticism that he's banning books in Florida. "So the whole book fan thing is a hoax. There's not been a single book banned in the state of Florida," he said. "You can go buy or use whatever book you want. What we have done is empowered parents with the ability to review the curriculum to know what books are being used in school, and then to ensure that those books match state standards and are age and developmentally appropriate."
Going further, DeSantis championed banning critical race theory in public schools. "We eliminated critical race theory from our K-12 schools; that was the right thing to do," he said. "We're also not going to be teaching people to hate their country, but what we are going to do is teach the accurate history. So in the same bill that banned critical race theory, we required teaching thoroughly about racial discrimination that occurred in American history."
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On Sunday, the NAACP issued a travel advisory for Florida, alleging the state was hostile to all nonwhite and LGBT people. But DeSantis scoffed at these suggestions on Wednesday. "Claiming that Florida is unsafe is a total farce. I mean, are you kidding me?" DeSantis said.
The governor would go on to accuse the group of "colluding with legacy media to try to manufacture a narrative."