Former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean predicted Wednesday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) would not win the state of Florida if he ran for president right now.
Dean said, “He’s totally unfit to govern in any way, and he’s an embarrassment to every governor, I mean every governor, both Republicans and Democrats. A guy like this should never be in public authority. The good news here for the people of Florida is that people are beginning to stand up to this. In the last 24 hours, there are a number of large school districts that have ignored DeSantis’ crazy order. DeSantis is doing this to position himself to run for president with the MAGA people, but what he doesn’t realize and he’s a smart guy.”
“What he doesn’t realize is that COVID sank Donald Trump’s presidency, and it’s going to sink DeSantis because the people of Florida,” he continued. “I don’t think DeSantis could carry Florida if he ran for president right now. The thing that’s going to really kill him is the businesses in Florida that are really getting hammered right now. Who in their right mind would take a vacation or go visit anybody who lived in Florida right now? You literally really risk your life, especially if you have children.”
He added, “He could take down Marco Rubio because DeSantis is a really unpopular Republican governor. Marco Rubio has never been a strong candidate, but you’re right. Florida has trended moderately conservative. He’s going to have a strong challenge. He’s not a good campaigner. The canary in the coal mine here is Rubio. When Rubio starts objecting to DeSantis, he doesn’t have a backbone anywhere. You know he and his pollsters will decide DeSantis has become a liability. You never would have said that four weeks ago, but it’s clear, it’s dumb politically.”
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