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      Ron DeSantis expected to formally enter 2024 presidential race next week

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      The rightwing Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, will officially begin his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination next week, it was widely reported on Thursday.According to Reuters, DeSantis, 44, is expected to file Federal Election Commission paperwork declaring his candidacy next Thursday, 25 May, to coincide with a donor meeting in Miami, with a more formal launch the following week.The invitation for the 25 May event stated that donors would be put to “work”, a source told Reuters. The Wall Street Journal said DeSantis donors were beginning “a fundraising blitz”. CNN said 100 hotel rooms had been reserved for the Miami event. The New York Times said DeSantis was likely to release a video accompanying his entry to the race.CNN and ABC cited Republican sources as saying a formal announcement would follow in Dunedin, Florida, the governor’s home town. CNN also said a source “cautioned that the planning remains a moving target and DeSantis is known to surprise even his closest allies with last-minute changes”. ABC said the governor’s plans were “in flux”.DeSantis did not comment.A run has been long expected, particularly since DeSantis won a landslide victory over his Democratic challenger, Charlie Crist, in his re-election campaign last year.DeSantis is a clear second in Republican primary polling, though he has fallen far behind the frontrunner, the former president Donald Trump. On Thursday, the RealClearPolitics polling average put Trump more than 36 points ahead.Trump faces unprecedented legal jeopardy but has eagerly capitalised on it.In separate cases in New York, the former president pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal counts related to a hush money payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels and was found liable, and fined $5m, for sexual assault and defamation against the writer E Jean Carroll.Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, including inciting the deadly January 6 attack on Congress, are the subject of state and federal investigations. The US Department of Justice is investigating his retention of classified material. The attorney general of New York launched a civil lawsuit over his business practices.Trump has stepped up attacks on DeSantis but the rest of the Republican field continues to lag far behind.Declared candidates include the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley and Asa Hutchinson, a former governor of Arkansas. Tim Scott, a South Carolina senator, is expected to announce next week. Mike Pence, a former Indiana governor and Trump’s vice-president, is reported to be close to announcing.In a detailed report about DeSantis’s preparations, the New York Times recently said: “In six short months from November to May, Mr DeSantis’s 2024 run has faltered before it has even begun.“Allies have abandoned him. Tales of his icy interpersonal touch have spread. Donors have groused. And a legislative session in Tallahassee designed to burnish his conservative credentials has instead coincided with a drop in the polls.”On Thursday, Reuters said DeSantis’s insistence on staying out of the race until the Florida legislature completed its spring session rattled some donors who wanted him to start firing back at Trump.Nonetheless, DeSantis and his advisers hoped to use the Florida session as a springboard to an announcement. In turn, Florida Republicans gave the governor a string of political victories.They expanded a state school voucher program, prohibited the use of public money in sustainable investing, scrapped diversity programs at public universities, allowed for the permitless carry of concealed weapons and banned almost all abortions.On Wednesday, DeSantis signed a slate of bills targeting LGBTQ+ rights.“We need to let our kids just be kids,” DeSantis said at the signing, at a Christian school in Tampa. “What we’ve said in Florida is we are going to remain a refuge of sanity and a citadel of normalcy.”In response, Joe Saunders, senior political director of Equality Florida, an advocacy group, told reporters DeSantis sees freedom “as a campaign slogan … the nation should be on high alert, because, today, we are all Floridians”.Democrats think such actions – also including a high-profile fight with Disney over its opposition to his policies on the teaching of LGBTQ+ issues – could place DeSantis too far right of the mainstream to beat Joe Biden in the general election.Even Trump has suggested so, telling the Messenger this week “many people within the pro-life movement feel [the Florida abortion ban] was too harsh”.DeSantis has also made high-profile missteps, including on foreign policy, for example telling Fox News the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a “territorial dispute” – a position from which he swiftly retreated.But in general election polling, DeSantis and Biden are in a near dead heat. The RCP average gives DeSantis the lead, by half a point.The governor also has powerful help. According to the New York Times, he is “likely to start with more money in an outside group than any Republican primary candidate in history”.DeSantis, the paper said, “has more than $80m expected to be transferred from his state account to his Super Pac, Never Back Down, which has also raised more than $30m, in addition to having tens of millions more in donor commitments”.Never Back Down, which can raise unlimited funds, has been hiring staff in early voting states and running TV ads.The Journal reported that on Thursday the Super Pac was due to host a call for potential supporters and donors. An invitation read: “All solicitations of funds in connection with this event are by Never Back Down … and not by Governor Ron DeSantis.”Nonetheless, DeSantis was due to join the call. More

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      Trump wins proxy battle with DeSantis over pick for Kentucky governor

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      Donald Trump scored a proxy victory over Ron DeSantis on Tuesday, the Republican presidential frontrunner’s preferred candidate beating the choice of the Florida governor, Trump’s closest rival, in a gubernatorial primary in Kentucky.Daniel Cameron, the first major-party Black nominee for governor in Kentucky history, will face the Democratic incumbent, Andy Beshear, in November.Cameron, the state attorney general, claimed a convincing victory over a 12-candidate field including Kelly Craft, who was United Nations ambassador in the Trump administration and who won a late endorsement from DeSantis.Beshear easily beat two challengers in his own primary.Cameron is the first Black Kentucky attorney general and would be its first Black governor. He played up the historic nature of his nomination in his victory speech, saying he would “embody the promise of America, that if you work hard and if you stand on principle, anything is possible”.“To anyone who looks like me, know that you can achieve anything,” Cameron said. “Know that in this country and in Kentucky, all that matters are your values.”Kentucky will be one of the most closely watched states in November, analysts seeking clues for the 2024 presidential race. Beshear is a popular governor but he will face a tough re-election bid in a Republican-dominated state after a first term marked by the Covid pandemic, natural disasters and a mass shooting that killed one of his closest friends.Beshear touted his stewardship of Kentucky’s economy and blasted the tone of the Republican primary.“Right now somewhere in America, there is a CEO deciding where to move their business and they’re considering Kentucky,” Beshear told supporters on Tuesday. “Let me ask you: is seeing people talk down our state and our economy, insult our people and stoke divisions going to help that next company choose Kentucky? Of course not.”In 2019, Beshear used the attorney general’s office as a springboard to the governorship. As attorney general, he challenged executive actions by the then Republican governor, Matt Bevin, who he then beat narrowly.If Beshear follows his campaign formula from 2019, he will avoid talking about Trump or dwelling on polarizing national issues. He is also expected to draw on his family’s strong political brand – his father, Steve Beshear, is a former two-term Kentucky governor.Cameron succeeded Beshear as attorney general and mounted numerous challenges against state and national Democratic policies, essentially halting Covid-era restrictions. Beshear says his actions saved lives and that he leaned on guidance from Trump’s Covid taskforce.A former aide to the Republican US Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, Cameron is one of the most prominent Black Republicans. His victory will play into Trump’s efforts to solidify his lead in the presidential primary.Rivalry between Cameron and Craft dominated the Kentucky primary. Cameron endured an advertising blitz by Craft’s campaign and an outside group that portrayed Cameron as an “establishment teddy bear”. A pro-Cameron group returned fire.Cameron’s handling of an investigation into the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police in 2020, which contributed to nationwide protests for policing reform, could now come under renewed scrutiny.Announcing a grand jury’s findings, Cameron said jurors “agreed” homicide charges were not warranted because officers were fired upon. Three jurors said Cameron’s staff did not give them an opportunity to consider homicide charges.Cameron must also build party unity. He has previously bridged the rift between Trump and McConnell. Previously the senator’s legal counsel, he made a high-profile pitch for Trump at the Republican convention in 2020. More

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      Are you a doctor who hates treating gay people? Come to Florida, where Ron DeSantis has legalised bigotry | Arwa Mahdawi

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      You know what I love about living in the US? Freedom! You can choose between multiple overpriced insurance companies to provide you with healthcare, for example. The healthcare companies, in turn, can seemingly charge you whatever they like for their services. If they want to charge you $1,500 (£1,200) for some toenail fungus cream, that is their prerogative. That’s freedom, baby.As if this wasn’t glorious enough, the healthcare system in Florida has just had a new layer of freedom added to it. On 1 July, a new law goes into effect that means a doctor can look a potential patient up and down, decide they are giving off homosexual vibes and refuse to treat them because interacting with gay people goes against their personal beliefs. The doctor will not face any repercussions for denying care and has no obligation to refer the patient elsewhere.I wish I was exaggerating but I’m not. Last week, Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, signed the Protections of Medical Conscience (pdf) bill, which lets medical professionals and health insurance companies deny patients care based on religious, moral or ethical beliefs. While the new law doesn’t allow care to be withheld because of race, colour sex, or national origin, there are no protections for sexual orientation or gender identity. The only bright spot is that hospitals must still abide by federal laws that require them to stabilise a patient with an emergency condition. In other words, you can’t let a patient die just because they’re wearing a Drag Race T-shirt.At least, I don’t think you can: it is hard to say precisely what is allowed under this new law because, like a lot of regressive Republican legislation, the bill is deliberately vague. It does not list which procedures are acceptable to refuse and it doesn’t clearly define what constitutes a “sincerely held religious, moral, or ethical belief”. This lack of clarity is by design: Republicans love passing legislation with vague language because it creates confusion and is more difficult to challenge. It is also a lot scarier for the people affected when you don’t have a clear idea what is allowed and what isn’t. The journalist Mary C Curtis has called the tactic “intimidation by obfuscation”. The American Civil Liberties Union noted that the new law means “Floridians will have to fear discriminatory treatment from medical providers every time they meet a new provider, calling into question everyone’s trust in their medical care.”DeSantis has been a very busy man: in the brief moments he has not spent fighting with Disney, his state’s second-largest employer, he has been signing a flurry of regressive legislation. The day before he signed his bill attacking healthcare equality, he signed a draconian immigration bill that makes life for migrants in Florida very difficult. And, on Monday, he signed a bill that would ban Florida’s colleges and universities from spending state or federal money on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. It also limits how race can be discussed on many courses. In a speech after he signed the bill, DeSantis told prospective college students that if they want to study wacky things such as “gender ideology” they should get the hell out of Florida. “We don’t want to be diverted into a lot of these niche subjects that are heavily politicised; we want to focus on the basics,” said DeSantis. Sounds like a great advert for Florida’s educational institutions, doesn’t it? “Come here if you just want to learn the basics!” I’m not sure what “the basics” are but they clearly don’t include studying Michelangelo or watching animated films since, earlier this year, a Florida principal had to resign after parents were outraged that their kids were shown a picture of Michelangelo’s David and now a Florida teacher is being investigated for showing her class a Disney movie featuring a gay character.Having banned everything in sight, DeSantis’s next big project appears to be modifying Florida’s “resign-to-run” law so that he can run for president while still serving as governor. It’s not clear when he might finally announce his candidacy, but I will tell you this: it is looking very likely that the Republican nominee for 2024 is going to be either DeSantis, a man who has turned the sunshine state into a hotbed of bigotry, or Donald Trump, a fellow bigot who has been found to be a sexual predator by the law. Please feel free to scream. Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
      Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. More

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      ‘Impossible to hold him accountable’: DeSantis signs laws to ease 2024 run

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      Ron DeSantis is using the final weeks before he reportedly launches a presidential campaign to modify Florida law to allow him to run while serving as governor and reduce transparency over political spending and his travel.DeSantis is poised to sign a bill that would exempt him from Florida’s “resign-to-run” law, so that he won’t have to give up his office in order to run for president. Under existing state law, if he were to run, DeSantis would have had to submit a resignation letter before Florida’s qualifying deadline this year and step down by inauguration day in 2025. Last month, Republicans in the state legislature passed a measure that says the restriction does not apply to those running for president or vice-president.The bill also imposes sweeping new voting restrictions in the state and will make it much harder for non-profits to do voter registration drives.“I can’t think of a better training ground than the state of Florida for a future potential commander-in-chief,” Tyler Sirois, a Republican state lawmaker, said when the bill was being debated.Some Democrats questioned why lawmakers would allow DeSantis to take his attention away from being governor. “Why are we signing off on allowing Ron DeSantis the ability to not do his job?” Angie Nixon, a legislator from Jacksonville, said last month.DeSantis also signed a bill last week that will shield records related to his travel from public view. The new law exempts all of DeSantis’s past and future travel from disclosure under Florida’s public records law, one of the most transparent in the US. It also exempts the state from having to disclose the names of people who meet with the governor at his office or mansion or travel with him, said Barbara Petersen, the executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, who has worked on transparency laws for more than three decades in the state.Republican lawmakers and DeSantis have cited security concerns to justify the law. But Democrats and transparency advocates have said it is a brazen effort to keep DeSantis’s travel secret.“It’s un-fricking-believable,” Petersen said. “It will be virtually impossible to hold this governor accountable without access to those kinds of records.”The security rationale for the bill was “bogus”, she said. “They’re not going to let somebody in the mansion if they don’t know who that person is. I don’t understand why it’s a security concern of where he went six weeks ago.“Where a governor goes, who travels with the governor, who the governor meets with is all information of critical importance to the public. Who is influencing the governor? We need to know that.”The same bill that repeals the resign-to-run requirement would make it harder to know where political committees in Florida, including DeSantis’s, are raising money from. Currently, statewide political committees are required to file monthly campaign finance reports for much of a campaign. Under the new measure, those committees would only have to file quarterly reports until the state’s qualification deadline, when they would have to file more regular reports.“It’s definitely a step backwards for transparency in campaign finance,” said Ben Wilcox, the co-founder of Integrity Florida, a government watchdog group. “It’s just gonna slow down the reporting of what these political committees are raising.“They are raising boatloads of money. The political committees are the preferred fundraising tool out there,” he added.DeSantis recently moved to distance himself from his Florida political committee, which has about $86m, according to Politico. The move prompted speculation that the committee might attempt to transfer money to a federal super Pac backing his presidential bid, Politico reported. Such a transfer may be legally questionable and would only be possible if DeSantis were unaffiliated with the Florida political committee.“It looks like they’re laying the groundwork to transfer the money to some sort of vehicle that would support his presidential run,” said Stephen Spaulding, a campaign finance expert at Common Cause, a government watchdog group. “What that, again, goes to show is how loose the coordination rules are, how they need to be strengthened, and how existing rules need to be enforced.” More

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      DeSantis secures endorsements on visit to Iowa in preparation for likely 2024 bid

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      Florida’s rightwing governor, Ron DeSantis, has rolled out a hefty list of endorsements from Iowa lawmakers as he visited the crucial early-voting state on Saturday in an attempt to garner support for his potential Republican presidential campaign.The pro-DeSantis Super Pac Never Back Down announced endorsements from 37 Republican Iowa state senators and representatives, including the Iowa senate president, Amy Sinclair, and the state house majority leader, Matt Windschitl.In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Sinclair praised DeSantis, saying that he stands “head and shoulders” above other Republican presidential candidates including Donald Trump and that the choice is “an easy endorsement for me”.Windschitl echoed similar sentiments, telling the outlet: “We need somebody that’s accountable to the people that has proven in their state that they can do this job and take that same prosperity and spread it throughout America.”However, DeSantis is landing in Iowa – the first state in the Republican nomination process – after a tough few weeks. The Republican frontrunner, the former US president Donald Trump, has repeatedly attacked his ex-ally and holds a commanding lead in polls. An overseas trip by DeSantis was also seen as falling flat and he has struggled recently to impress some big Republican donors.On Saturday, DeSantis and his wife, Casey, attended the 2023 Feenstra Family Picnic hosted by the state representative Randy Feenstra in Sioux Center. DeSantis’s visit to the state is widely regarded as an early attempt at swaying Iowa Republicans, many of whom will attend an outdoor rally hosted by Trump later this evening in Des Moines.During the fundraiser, DeSantis boasted about his conservative accomplishments in Florida’s ongoing culture war, including abortion bans, blocking diversity and inclusion programs, and legislation that allows residents to carry concealed weapons without a government-issued permit.“In Florida, we are a freedom zone permanently,” DeSantis said, adding: “I think we need to restore sanity in this country,” as the crowd applauded loudly while eating hamburgers.“If you look at what’s going on in Washington DC, if we were sitting here ten years ago and someone told you we would be over $31tn in debt, you would not have believed that was the case and yet the Democrats keep borrowing and saving like drunken sailors,” he said ahead of the elections in which he is expected to soon formally announce his candidacy as Trump’s chief challenger.“If you compare how Florida’s managed or Iowa’s managed to states governed by leftist politicians, it’s like night and day,” DeSantis continued.The governor appeared to also take a veiled jab at Trump.“We must reject the culture of losing that has impacted our party in recent years. The time for excuses is over,” DeSantis said, referring to a series of electoral losses suffered by Republicans in the 2020 election and the 2022 midterms.“If we get distracted, if we focus the election on the past or on other side issues, then I think the Democrats are going to beat us again,” he told the crowd of several hundred conservatives. More

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      Liable for sexual assault, yes – but Trump’s political career is far from over | Lloyd Green

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      It is the worst of times and the best of times for Donald Trump. On Tuesday, he suffered another legal defeat. A federal jury found him liable for the sexual abuse, forcible touching, and defamation of E Jean Carroll. She was awarded $5m in damages.The 45th president, however, escaped liability for rape. He also leads Joe Biden in their latest hypothetical match-up, while Ron DeSantis fades in the rearview mirror.The midterms in November 2022 ended with an underwhelming GOP performance, DeSantis emerging triumphant in his reelection bid, and Trump licking his wounds. Not any more. He’s back.The public judges Biden to be less than sharp, and his stewardship of the economy similarly lacking. Record low unemployment has failed to dissipate the stings of inflation, high interest rates and an underperforming stock market. Retirement accounts have taken a hit. Food prices are high. Folks are angry.Meanwhile, Hunter Biden, the first son, faces the prospect of indictment on tax and gun charges. Biden professes that the boy has done nothing wrong, but even if he escapes prosecution, the sins of the son will likely be visited upon the father. It feels incestuous.Given this tableau, the impact of the Trump sexual assault outcome is likely to be muted, which is not to say that this latest loss won’t bring fallout.In the run-up to the verdict, the court released a deposition video that showed Trump unable to identify Carroll in a photograph. Instead, he confused her with Marla Maples, his second wife. In that moment, he put the lie to his non-denial-denial that Carroll wasn’t his “type”.The potential for fall debate drama over Trump’s brain fog is high. Remember when he bragged about his performance in a cognitive test (“Person, woman, man, camera, TV”)? His mental acuity, too, is now likely to become a campaign issue. Turnabout is fair play. Biden isn’t the only one with issues.Still, Trump has already survived the infamous Access Hollywood tape. “When you are a star, they let you do it … You can do anything,” he cackled back in the day.“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK,” Trump mused seven years ago. He was definitely on to something.For many Republicans, Trump is their Caesar, a cultural avatar and warrior who possesses license to flout and defy convention. Conversely, the GOP primary field is too timid to comment, let alone criticize or condemn Trump.For rivals purportedly wedded to law and order, their silence is both deafening and unsurprising. Apparently, the wrath of Trump loyalists far exceeds any possible political benefit.Mike Pence still won’t go full bore at his ex-boss over the events of January 6. The former vice-president tiptoes around the topic. The fact that Trump was unperturbed by the mob’s calls for Pence to be hanged apparently warrants no further discussion.Then there’s DeSantis. Bashing Disney is one thing; trashing Trump is another. Glaringly, he failed to use the Carroll trial to further his own ambitions: he didn’t dispatch his wife, Casey DeSantis, there to offer thoughts and prayers for the plaintiff or Melania Trump.The cameras would have been rolling and DeSantis would have been credited for surgically wielding a scalpel instead of crudely brandishing his usual axe. Instead, DeSantis went overseas in a vain bid to grow foreign policy credentials.In London, he fell on his face as he attempted to woo the titans of British industry. “Ron DeTedious: DeSantis underwhelms Britain’s business chiefs”, the headline at Politico blared. “UK captains of industry lambast ‘low-wattage’ US presidential hopeful.”Low wattage is the new low energy. Once upon a time, Jeb Bush was Florida’s governor. The song remains the same.DeSantis also met Israel’s beleaguered Benjamin Netanyahu – who failed to release a photo of their meeting. At this juncture, DeSantis’s anticipated announcement feels stale and overdue.His purported legislative accomplishments have earned him the title of “2024’s Ted Cruz”; the most rightwing GOP contender, little else. He makes Wall Street’s Republicans uncomfortable. Once again, the non-Trump challenger is a mirage.Looking ahead Trump’s future is muddled. He remains under criminal indictment. Grand juries in DC and Georgia proceed apace. Separately, an October trial date is set in the $250m civil fraud action commenced by New York state against him, his three older children and the Trump Organization.It’s too soon for Trump to gloat, but he can definitely smile.
      Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 More

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      Liable for sexual abuse, yes – but Trump’s political career is far from over | Lloyd Green

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      It is the worst of times and the best of times for Donald Trump. On Tuesday, he suffered another legal defeat. A federal jury found him liable for the sexual abuse, forcible touching, and defamation of E Jean Carroll. She was awarded $5m in damages.The 45th president, however, escaped liability for rape. He also leads Joe Biden in their latest hypothetical match-up, while Ron DeSantis fades in the rearview mirror.The midterms in November 2022 ended with an underwhelming GOP performance, DeSantis emerging triumphant in his reelection bid, and Trump licking his wounds. Not any more. He’s back.The public judges Biden to be less than sharp, and his stewardship of the economy similarly lacking. Record low unemployment has failed to dissipate the stings of inflation, high interest rates and an underperforming stock market. Retirement accounts have taken a hit. Food prices are high. Folks are angry.Meanwhile, Hunter Biden, the first son, faces the prospect of indictment on tax and gun charges. Biden professes that the boy has done nothing wrong, but even if he escapes prosecution, the sins of the son will likely be visited upon the father. It feels incestuous.Given this tableau, the impact of the Trump sexual abuse outcome is likely to be muted, which is not to say that this latest loss won’t bring fallout.In the run-up to the verdict, the court released a deposition video that showed Trump unable to identify Carroll in a photograph. Instead, he confused her with Marla Maples, his second wife. In that moment, he put the lie to his non-denial-denial that Carroll wasn’t his “type”.The potential for fall debate drama over Trump’s brain fog is high. Remember when he bragged about his performance in a cognitive test (“Person, woman, man, camera, TV”)? His mental acuity, too, is now likely to become a campaign issue. Turnabout is fair play. Biden isn’t the only one with issues.Still, Trump has already survived the infamous Access Hollywood tape. “When you are a star, they let you do it … You can do anything,” he cackled back in the day.“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK,” Trump mused seven years ago. He was definitely on to something.For many Republicans, Trump is their Caesar, a cultural avatar and warrior who possesses license to flout and defy convention. Conversely, the GOP primary field is too timid to comment, let alone criticize or condemn Trump.For rivals purportedly wedded to law and order, their silence is both deafening and unsurprising. Apparently, the wrath of Trump loyalists far exceeds any possible political benefit.Mike Pence still won’t go full bore at his ex-boss over the events of January 6. The former vice-president tiptoes around the topic. The fact that Trump was unperturbed by the mob’s calls for Pence to be hanged apparently warrants no further discussion.Then there’s DeSantis. Bashing Disney is one thing; trashing Trump is another. Glaringly, he failed to use the Carroll trial to further his own ambitions: he didn’t dispatch his wife, Casey DeSantis, there to offer thoughts and prayers for the plaintiff or Melania Trump.The cameras would have been rolling and DeSantis would have been credited for surgically wielding a scalpel instead of crudely brandishing his usual axe. Instead, DeSantis went overseas in a vain bid to grow foreign policy credentials.In London, he fell on his face as he attempted to woo the titans of British industry. “Ron DeTedious: DeSantis underwhelms Britain’s business chiefs”, the headline at Politico blared. “UK captains of industry lambast ‘low-wattage’ US presidential hopeful.”Low wattage is the new low energy. Once upon a time, Jeb Bush was Florida’s governor. The song remains the same.DeSantis also met Israel’s beleaguered Benjamin Netanyahu – who failed to release a photo of their meeting. At this juncture, DeSantis’s anticipated announcement feels stale and overdue.His purported legislative accomplishments have earned him the title of “2024’s Ted Cruz”; the most rightwing GOP contender, little else. He makes Wall Street’s Republicans uncomfortable. Once again, the non-Trump challenger is a mirage.Looking ahead Trump’s future is muddled. He remains under criminal indictment. Grand juries in DC and Georgia proceed apace. Separately, an October trial date is set in the $250m civil fraud action commenced by New York state against him, his three older children and the Trump Organization.It’s too soon for Trump to gloat, but he can definitely smile. This article was amended on 11 May 2023. The text and headline were amended as Donald Trump was found liable of sexual abuse, not sexual assault as an earlier version said.
      Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 More

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      DeSantis signs bills banning Chinese citizens from buying land in Florida

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      Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida signed a series of bills Monday that bans Chinese citizens from buying land in the state.In a recent news release, the Republican announced his signing of that bill and two others which are meant to “counteract” what he described as “the malign influence of the Chinese Communist party in the state of Florida”.One bill restricts Chinese nationals from buying land in Florida unless they are also American citizens or permanent residents.Chinese citizens with non-tourist visas, meanwhile, would be limited to buying fewer than two acres of land that is at least five miles away from any military institutions, the Tampa Bay television news outlet WTVT reported.The bill also restricts foreign citizens of other countries from buying land under certain circumstances. Russian, Iranian, Cuban, Syrian, North Korean and Venezuelan citizens are not allowed to purchase land within 10 miles of military bases under the measure but can still buy property elsewhere in Florida, Insider reported.Critics have warned that the bill could facilitate discrimination against Chinese homeowners in Florida while also harming other immigrants, Axios reported.Last month, ahead of the bill’s signing, more than 100 protesters testified against the legislation, adding that it would discriminate against Florida’s Chinese population, USA Today reported.“My concern is this bill will affect people like me who want to own a home,” said Florida college student Victoria Li, through tears. “We’re scared, we’re terrified. That’s what we came here for. We have the American dream. That’s why, at my age, I’m still going to school.”Other legislation signed on Monday includes a bill that prohibits colleges and universities as well as their employees from accepting gifts while “in their official capacities from a college or university based in a foreign country of concern”, the Hill reported.Colleges and universities within Florida are also required to get approval from the state’s board of governors or board of education before participating in any agreement or partnership with a university in a foreign country.An additional bill restricts those using government devices and servers from downloading applications such as TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company, the Hill added.“Florida is taking action to stand against the United States’ greatest geopolitical threat – the Chinese Communist party,” DeSantis said.The bills are collectively scheduled to go into effect on 1 July. More