Donald Trump's ideas, but not his excesses. Republican Ron DeSantis launched, Tuesday, May 30, his campaign for the US presidential election in Iowa, presenting himself as the best alternative to the former president in 2024. "Being a leader is not entertainment," the 44-year-old governor said from the Midwestern state. "It's about producing results."

Without ever naming him – at the risk of offending the large base of voters of the septuagenarian ex-president – the Republican called for the country to be led by someone "energetic", who can govern for "two terms". What Donald Trump, already president between 2017 and 2021, could not do, under the US Constitution.

Ron DeSantis chose to kick off his campaign from Iowa, a must-have state for any contender for the supreme office in the United States. Voters are the first to vote in the Republican primaries, which guarantees valuable momentum for whoever wins, in view of facing the Democratic candidate in 2024 – most likely current President Joe Biden.

The governor of Florida had given appointment to his supporters in an evangelical church with a gigantic portrait of Jesus Christ. A barely veiled appeal to the religious electorate, reputed to be very conservative, that Donald Trump was able to seduce in 2016 and that this Catholic, embarked on a crusade against "right-thinking", is now trying to conquer.

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Throughout the evening, Ron DeSantis made Trump in his own way, replaying several well-known scores of the billionaire. Starting by calling for the "great return of America", his campaign slogan that obviously evokes that of Donald Trump's victorious campaign in 2016: "Make America great again".

Donald Trump 'has too many pots and pans'

Notes that resonated with the crowd, mostly made up of former supporters of Donald Trump, anxious to find a potential alternative to the ex-president, recently indicted.

"He has too many pots and pans, so I'd like to see someone else instead," Kathy Leinenkugel, a 67-year-old epidemiologist, told AFP. "We don't know what's going to happen with all our stuff so we want to keep our options open," said Martha Burch, a pensioner with a big smile. In the Florida conservative, this woman sees someone "presidentiable", who "loves America".

The polls, which show Donald Trump well ahead in a face-off with Ron DeSantis? "I don't give them any credibility," sweeps her husband, Bill. The campaign is still so long, he argues.

Probably seeking to reduce this gap in the polls, the governor of Florida has long poured out on campaign themes dear to fans of the former president. He denounced in turn immigration supposedly out of control, "criminals wandering the streets" and accused the media of spreading "lies". And he received hearty ovations each time.

Speaking to the press moments later, Ron DeSantis finally attacked Donald Trump more frontally, mocking the litany of posts on his network, Truth Social, about debt like Covid-19. And to promise: "I will return the blows."

With AFP

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