i would not underestimate ron desantis at all. gerry: nikki haley is get a launcher bid next week, we will find out then but what is her message what will she stand for what is her identity in the republican field? >> i think that's a key question i disagree with philip a little bit i don't know that shall be that formidable in the context of her republican primary because she doesn't have a lame she's trying to be populous like donald trump at times she is a neoconservative defense talk in ways that the parties have moved on from the bush era approach to foreign policy, she's managed to upset trump polymers from the way she tries to distance himselherself from him but at te time people who are never trumper's within the republican party she is too closely associated with him having served in his cabinet i don't know where he nikki haley it's into the landscape when you have so many other republican candidates like mike pence, ron desantis who have very clear constituencies within the party and clear rationales. gerry: we went to

you're not going to get that from ron desantis. ron desantis, i think, has less. ron desantis. so from what we've seen and been on the national level now for a while i haven't seen the humor. i haven't seen the self-deprecating. i haven't seen the entertainment value of ron desantis. now, governor desantis does tremendous job in a controlled environment. when just him when he's got the mike, he's great. he's amazing. there's no one better but i don't know if you go and have a look at some of the debates. ron desantis against andrew gillum in 2018. the democrat candidate who ended up being cocaine addict or whatever was captured in a hotel room with a male prostitute. only the democrats so if you go and have a look at those debates, if you have a look at his most recent debate with crist. okay. desantis is not as good. not saying he's bad, but he's he gets the job done, but he's not as good on his feet. in a less controlled environment, i hope to vote for ron desantis for president in. 2028. i think he can wait for years. florida needs. him. florida wants him. not. so i want him

desantis at 53. former president trump at 40; however, quinnipiac has another polled a a couple more people in the mix who would you choose donald trump 43%, ron desantis 41%. financial sometimes says the repubrepublicans have an acute p dilemma. in a straight up matchup desantis would beat trump according to most of the polls in the crowded field trump could do what did he in 2016 when he won primary after primary with less than half vote. from trump's point of view the more candidates in the race the merrier. we are back with our panel. hugh, he said as much. he has put out statements on truth social sayings the more the merrier when nikki haley got. in you talked to the former president. where does his mind sit? >> i think he is looking forward to a large stage full of combative would be presidents about whom he is willing to compare and spar with. governor desantis does have that book you mentioned coming out, bret, the courage to be free. that follows memoirs by vice president pence and secretar

>> we could be seeing biden rsus desantis. recent polls indicate that former president trump maintains a healthy lead over mr. desanti for e republican nomination, on the order of 15 percentage points. any observer of american politics will tell you that the position from which debates begin before the primaries is not necessarily an indication of where they will end up. what is clear is that donald trump retains a solid base of committed support in the republican electorate, and early beliefs, and i would say hopes on the part of many republican leaders, the support has not yet come to pass. fraser: do you think trump feels that desantis is his biggest potential contender for that nomination? we've seen nikki haley come out, she recently said she wasn't going to run against trump, but then she decided to come almost with his blessing, some would say. you think he sees to santos as someone who could potentially take that nomination away from him? >> if he doesn't see mr. desantis as a serious threat, he certainly should. think

trump thought desantis was good for trump. and desantis thought trump could be good for desantis. as long as that was true, they were aligned. when that wasn't the case, they haven't been, they've been at odds. that relationship has been up and down over the years. they've had these tiffs and in the past and then the wheels really came off last year as it became clear that desantis was going to challenge trump for 2024 and that he was going to be a serious challenge, that in a lot of republican eyes desantis was overtaking trump as the heir and standard-bearer. >> the conventional wisdom has been that desantis probably won't announce for months until the state legislative session is over. that's fine with trump. it might encourage more people to get in. that makes trump's 30% or so more powerful in the primaries. so that begs the question, should desantis consider getting in sooner? would his entry in the race even maybe discourage other folks from getting in, if for no other reason than desantis would look up a lot of the campaign cash? >> i actually think it's smart of desantis

i would not underestimate ron desantis at all. gerry: nikki haley is get a launcher bid next week, we will find out then but what is her message what will she stand for what is her identity in the republican field? >> i think that's a key question i disagree with philip a little bit i don't know that shall be that formidable in the context of her republican primary because she doesn't have a lame she's trying to be populous like donald trump at times she is a neoconservative defense talk in ways that the parties have moved on from the bush era approach to foreign policy, she's managed to upset trump polymers from the way she tries to distance himherself from him but at the e time people who are never trumper's within the republican party she is too closely associated with him having served in his cabinet i don't know where he nikki haley it's into the landscape when you have so many other republican candidates like mike pence, ron desantis who have very clear constituencies within the party and clear rationales. gerry: we went to

what desantis is not just a florida problem. he is a national crisis that is threatening freedom and democracy, and the question, as you post, is when is someone going to finally stand up, push back against him, and organize a resistance that says, this is what's possible if we choose the path forward instead of the regressive path back? >> god help us if around santa 's is in charge of the republic of homeland security. karen, just deal with the argument, though, from desantis and his apologists that this isn't a don't say black approach. that black history is still being taught in florida schools, but they're just getting rid of the, quote unquote, political bits. the bits about prison abolition, queer theory. how do you personally respond to that line of argument? >> as i said on twitter, it's very interesting that we are exposed to all sorts of vile and incorrect and wrong theories and philosophy is coming from the white western world. we had to learn about manifest destiny. we have to learn about the civilizing mission for

that's what desantis wants to be. it doesn't make sense for him to get out early because he's already seen as the alternative. the question is whether he can consolidate and hold onto it. for those who rise fast in the polls, the best day of their campaign is the day they announce. from that point on they're the focus of attacks, and the magic begins to wear off. the question for desantis is whether he can actually build on that rather than lose that. at this point, nobody should write donald trump off. he is still the most powerful, potent force in the republican party. the chances are strong that he could win the nomination again. it's very open and very fluid. >> let's go back, tim, to that gathering, let's call it, that ron desantis had over the weekend. so interesting. look at the folks who were there. including ron johnson, tom cotton, mike lee, trump's former chief of staff, mick mulvaney. equally dwerg were the names of the grubs, election integrity, border security, and florida, where woke goes to die. what d

that was the power that reseeded with desantis. when he ran for re-election, the fight wasn't necessarily there. you didn't see the turnout. he's probably lucky he didn't do this before the election. >> i can tell you that right now. he got a fight on his hand now because i've seen and come in contact with some black folk from my district who were marching today that make it clear, i wasn't involved with politics now but i'm involved with politics right now. >> yeah. >> i also think that reverend al made that extremely clear, we're wide awake right now. i think we also got to be very clear that these words they're using, woke, indoctrination, because they have dehumanized the word woke, i said woke is the new n word how they want us to look at it. how every time someone say it, are you really woke? absolutely i am woke. matter of fact, all these people here, all the people out there, we are woke. and we're so woke we're pushing back on this. the vagueness of policies, stepping over and doing things that's totally outside of what we

what desantis is not just a florida problem. he is a national crisis that is threatening freedom and democracy, and the question, as you post, is when is someone going to finally stand up, push back against him, and organize a resistance that says, this is what's possible if we choose the path forward instead of the regressive path back? >> god help us if around santa 's is in charge of the republic of homeland security. just deal with the argument, though, from desantis and his apologists that this isn't a don't say black approach. that black history is still being taught in florida schools, but they're just getting rid of the, quote unquote, political bits. the bits about prison abolition, we are very. how do you personally respond to that line of argument? >> as i said on twitter, it's very interesting that we are exposed to all sorts of vile and incorrect and wrong theories and philosophy is coming from the white western world. we had to learn about manifest destiny. we have to learn about the civilizing mission for the poor

of course, knows desantis as well. so, david, how long could desantis have it both ways? giving trump credit for his political ascendance and saying, oh, i've done it all myself, you know, it was nice to get the introduction, but i had to win over the room. they are going to be going against each other in a death match here, david. >> true. and steve's reporting is correct. so, erin, i do believe -- he ran against putnam, a very good candidate. and the trump endorsement made the difference. but two things can be true at the same time. ron desantis has governed very effectively and consequentially in the state of florida. he has been a very effective governor without donald trump's help. so i think that's what you'll see desantis, if he was listening to my advice, i'd say acknowledge the former president's help, he helped me get there, but i've stood on my own two feet since i've been here. and if you like what i've done -- he's going to run on his record this session in florida. and at the end of may, june, he's going to get in the race and point to all of the things he's

this is why donald trump has been attacking desantis because he understands that desantis poses the greatest threat to him because as desantis rises, it is likely by taking votes away from donald trump. and so you are seeing ron desantis taking all of these steps that look like he's running for president. what we don't know, two thing, number one, how does he scale up? how does ron desantis go from governor of florida to a presidential candidate and how will he react to donald trump's attacks? does he have a glass jar and there are some republicans who think you can defeat donald trump without ever saying his name. without ever answering him back. i think that's naive so what we don't know is what's going to happen? what happens when these two engage with one another when ron desantis, if he's ever willing to fire back at donald trump, what will the reaction of the base be and that's a complete question mark at the moment. >> and i think it's the key question, ali. when i was reading the fantastic summary you and other folks in our late night d.c. unit wrote about what's in this book, one li

ron desantis. we have sound from him where he's responding to the larry hogans, chris sununus and others who have been talking about him. >> when you're out there leading, when you're out there setting the agenda, not just for florida, but really for the nation which we've done over the last few years, people see that, and the people that don't necessarily like that are going to respond accordingly. i can just tell you, if people are not firing at me, then i must not be doing my job. i view it really as positive feedback. >> this is just the beginning. how do you think he will stand up against criticism? >> i will note larry hogan left with one of the highest rankings of governors in a blue state as a republican governor. chris sununu, purple state, the second highest approval rating. i they they're doing fine as far as leadership. he's going to have to address donald trump. he doesn't benefit anything by punching down. he's going to need to take trump on directly. trying to out-extreme him, and no

>>> look at this op-ed, what america needs to hear from ron desantis. peter morici is going to tell us what he needs to hear from the florida governor. he's next. ♪ if you could only say what you mean to say -- ♪ say what you need to say, say what you mean to say ♪ your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire if you have this... and you get this... you could end up with this... unexpected out-of-pocket costs. which for those on medicare, or soon to be, is a good reason to take charge of your health care. so consider this. an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan from unitedhealthcare. why? because medicare alone doesn't pay for everything. and what it doesn't pay for, like deductibles and copays, could really add up. even thousands of dollars a year. medicare supplement plans help by paying some of what medicare doesn't... and making your out-of-pocket costs a lot more

but first, the trump-desantis war begins with desantis trying to rid schools of the critical thinking necessary to realize he's getting destroyed on the debate stage. it's time for some "big news." ♪♪ good evening. i'm james smartwood. and i listen to ryan reynolds movies on the treadmill. we come to you tonight as the battle for the bulbous, deformed pig heart of the republican party rages on between eulogist with a hard-out donald trump and florida governor who buys his suits at the container store ron desantis. a new poll shows trump barely ahead by the skin of his teeth with a 26-point lead over desantis, mike pence, nikki haley, and the rest of the future fox news greenroom barnacles polling the single digits. as we speak, trump is huddling with advisors, horse-teeth real-estate developers, and belarus honeypots to fine-tune his attacks on desantis. a genius move by trump there to remember that seniors need government support once their kids lose contact because the qanon stuff is just too much. meanwhile, governor desantis is trying to bury in the same hole as his years of s

ron desantis is way behind me. i have 1.2 million more votes than ron desantis. people don't know that. >> and of course, you know, that's not really fair comparison, right? that was for governor of florida. let's just be clear, though, jeff, when you look at this, desantis responds sometimes very clearly, but not clearly. he doesn't say trump's name. he talks about how he won and how resounding it was and he punches back but he does not use trump's name. do you think that that's right? or does he need to hit back more directly? >> well, this is just trump being trump. we know what we're going to get and there's no surprise when you see on the tv and listen to him say those things and pick on people. my encouragement as a republican would be for ron desantis to not take the bait. stay focus on pointing folks back to his conservative record in florida, how he's grown an economy, helped navigate a state through a pandemic a lot like governor kemp here in georgia. and our opportunities to put on display what conservative leadership really, truly looks like. don't ta

donald trump and ron desantis. pamela paul writes today that liberals can learn a lot from desantis. quote, it would be tempting to write off desantis, the bombastic republican governor of florida, as another unelectable right wing lunatic unfit for national office. we've made that mistake before. we're back with my guests. natasha, basically what pamela paul is saying is that desantis is not trump. people who think he's the new tangled trump, he's not trump. he's stolen a page from trump. but her argument is we shouldn't write him off. compare their respective back ground think. trump's acceptance into the university of pennsylvania after an academic known only for mediocrity. desantis, the son of a tv ratings box installer and a nurse earned his way into the i'vy league. he worked his way through yale while playing baseball and graduated magnum cum laudee. >> it sounds like she's really impressed by his resume. >> i think that was a lesson learned with donald trump. i think when donald trump ran, it changed our s

governor ron desantis. you'll see fresh reporting on where he is on a 2024 run and one major donor predicting he will be the nominee. >>> plus the russian journalist who stood up to putin and protested his war on live television joins me tonight. she's going to tell you how her and her young daughter escaped moscow. an incredible story and whether she regrets anything about her public stance against putin. >>> and the hits keep coming for congressman george santos. big questions raised that found more than $365,000 in unexplained and undocumented expenses. at least one of his donors is now talking to the justice department. and effortlessssly responds to both of you. our smart sleepepers get 28 minutes more restful sleep per night. proven quality sleep. only from sleep number. ubrelvy helps u fight migraine attacks. u rise to the challenge. u won't clock out. so u bring ubrelvy. it can quickly stop migraine in its tracks within 2 hours... ...without worrying if it's too late or where you are. unlike older m

if donald -- if ron desantis wants that, he's got that. he's pretty much if got it locked up, from what i understand. i'm not saying nobody's going to give to trump that makes a lot of money, but they want desantis. trump, on the other hand, could use that to his advantage, and i think that's what you're seeing here. he's going to say, listen, i'm running against elites in both parties, the democrats and the republicans. ron desantis is an animal of the elite, and if you, if i'm running for the forgotten man, it's -- and woman -- it's a populist message. and it might work. it might not work as well. i mean, it's kind of hard to say that desantis didn't do anything in florida. i mean, that's -- [laughter] that is your campaign message that, you know, florida was great beforehand and he just, we just flicked him in and, you know, he's just doing the same stuff that he's always done, you know, the voters in florida didn't say that. voters in florida overwhelmingly, wide margins, wider than, you know, past governors, successful governors voted

that is not a ron desantis pitch. that is someone who is trying to carve out their own lane and it was done well. >> it is certainly very clear she wants the job as opposed to trump wondering if she will -- on that run, where do you see -- halle has announced. desantis has not. everyone thinks he will. nikki haley and desantis -- >> she is averaging about 50 -- that is low. most nominees are pulling better than that. but there are in fact a few who polled at her level or worsened went on to win. jimmy carter. bill clinton. donald trump was pulling very low in the early 2016 polls. we forget that. but he skyrocketed once he announced. compare that to someone like ron desantis, who is polling at 32%. there have been five republicans who have polled at that level at the early poll. all but one of them won. rudy giuliani, the lone exception. i'm sorry to bring that up. it's valentine's day! -- >> we would never have met if he had not run. -- there we go. >> you all stay with me. next, governor desantis, giving a small, pr

head-to-head, desantis leads 53-40. several polls have trump leading desantis. >> i face defamatory stuff every day i'm governor. >> this week trump posted something on truth social showing desantis posing with several female students when just out of college he taught high school for a year suggesting without evidence desantis was inarepresent. it's unclear who the females were or their ages. a democratic super pack put the photo out years ago. >> i spend my time delivering results for the people of florida and don't spend my time trying to smear other republicans. >> new hampshire governor chris sununu suggested he was too heavy handed and a spokesperson for south dakota governor christie gnome said desantis needed to be more aggressive against abortion. others avoided commenting. >> is he mod l fertilizer florida a model for republican canned dates running nationwide? >> i'm very proud of all of our successful republican governors. >> unaffiliated group called ready for ron is pushing desantis to run for president. i

you know, the old thing, do you want to have a beer with desantron desantis desantis, he's going to have to pass that test as well. >> sum lin, it sound as a congressman, he was very mau hawkish when it came to arming ukraine in and he came to that. do you think he's just reading where the voters are? >> i think we're seeing a shift in many -- certainly, the policy positions from when he was congressman ron desantis and now governor and presidential candidate ron desantis. going back to that "the new york times" review, it mentioned in desantis' 2011 book he preached about the virtues of so-called limited government which isn't necessarily what we're seeing with the battle against disney. obviously with kay powell's review, he was hawkish around the annexation of crimea, certainly a shift where the voters have been. >> thanks to both of you. >>> median bill maher's predictions have been spot-on, i went to los angeles to get his take on the election with 2024. you can hear what influenced his own career and his view on state of comedy in the land of wokeness in his view. you can see it pr

desantis. listen, it says a lot that this guy's turned a swing state reliably red now. he won miami by 20 points. hillary clinton won it by 20 points. that so much of a swing it is. there's a reason why donald trump and ron desantis and then distant -- >> so if he can do it in florida, can he do it in the u.s.? is florida a test case for across the u.s., they would respond to the same thing? or is a florida unique in some way? >> i think the republican base is responding well beyond florida and i think he's got a blueprint is gonna roll out. i think he's got potentially a lot of tunupa tension in the republican primaries. the question is, has he tapped too far down that will quell to run a new general election and be successful? >> i just don't understand how you sell trump-ism without trump? this is a less charismatic guy who's not as funny and not as entertaining, and he's gonna somehow convince the trumpian base that they should love him instead of a guy who created trumpism? >> they like th

elizabeth: desantis is also trying to recruit. recruit police officers tired of new york's progressive local policies. he is also recruiting trying to recruit cops outside of philadelphia and chicago. he was in staten island, the suburb of fort washington illinois talking about his florida plan to stop crime. >> it is absently working. the fact is there has never been more attrition or early retirement from the nypd than anybody can remember because of the left of vilifying police officers. and when that happens and they see a place like florida where the governor stands strongly behind law enforcement and they're actually giving bonuses to police officers to come and work in florida, it is an easy choice. when you look at chicago, and philadelphia, and new york they are way down and have tremendous vacancies in their departments. elizabeth: that is amazing, howard safir thank you for joining us tonight good to see you. >> good to be with you. elizabeth: is been shown on the supreme court will it change social media? will it chang

the governor of florida, ron desantis was in new york city yesterday. he warned police officers about critical race theory saying that is teaching young kids to demonize law enforcement. watch this. >> we thought critical theory across the board and you hear about that. what some people don't know, some of this critical theory may -- they are teaching kids to demonize and hate law enforcement. they will teach these kids that law enforcement are looking to mow down innocent people and they are creating a hatred for people who wear the uniform that is simply unacceptable. stuart: look who is here now. the perfect guest for the story, carol markowitz. carol left new york city schools couple years ago. was equity, crt, one of the reasons for your leaving? >> we have to look at it as a -- one large woke situation that is engulfing schools. the segment you just had about not having honors classes because of equity, this is all related. it has taken hold in new york city and they believe crazy things like police officers are bad, equity, only be achieved by lo

governor desantis, but what about president desantis? >> i like it. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] >> lawrence: you are looking at jacksonville, florida, where the sun is coming up already. one end of the slushy mess mess, ainsley. brian is having breakfast with friends. >> ainsley: is not too far away. [cheers and applause] at a diner called the metro diner. and he used to live there his wife right down the street, hey, brian. [chanting: usa] >> film xp when they are pumped up and they love the country. when the sun came up, these guys are hitting their peak. by lunch time, they should be out of control but i'm keeping them somewhat under wraps but big final hour and of course we have governor desantis and tom cotton. for people here when you mention leonard skinner jacksonville, johnny van zant here, that is like the messiah coming down. so he will be here shortly. that is going to be great. and of course, we will be talking diner's and the living 40 miles north of the border thk about what's going on with the election and every

>>> plus, governor ron desantis inching closer t

why is trump so focused on desantis already, and is desantis smart to, just to ignore him? >> well, i mean, trump has focused on desantis because desantis is going to get into the race. i mean, barring some sort of major thing that happens, it's just a question of when, not if. and donald trump knows that he is his most strongest competitor in that way. you see it in the polls. there's a lot of republicans who have a great deal of interest in ron desantis. so he's going to try to soften him up already. we're waiting for the nickname, a couple more that'll come by. [laughter] but right now i think ron desantis is actually being very smart in not taking the bait, because it makes him look a little bit bigger. i mean, he has had a very good line to this which is that i am busy actually taking care of the business of the state of florida. i've got stuff to do and not to descend to these sort of petty fights. so he's out there actually accomplishing things and letting his record stand, and it leaves trump sort of punching in the wind, as it were. paul: all right. couldn't agree

ron desantis. it's more of the idea of ron desantis. >> maybe it is the idea. and that, i think, is the one question. when ron desantis actually gets into this race, will be ideal of ron desantis matched the real-ism of ron desantis. yeah >>, harry enten well said. >> -- alex murdaugh -- crime. seen plus, new details on alec murdaugh potentially taking the stand. that's next. , where's your mask? i really tried sleeping with it, everybody. now i sleep with inspire. inspire? no mask? no hose? just sleep. learn more, and view important safety information at inspiresleep.com ♪ hey, heading on a family trip? nah, sorry son prices are crazy, we're gonna have to skip it this year. (son deflating fully to the ground.) awh, well use priceline they have package deals no one else has. five pools? (son reinflating slowly.) water slide? (son reinflates fully.) we can do it! (fully inflated - squeaks as arms wave.) ♪ go to your happy price ♪ ♪ priceline. ♪ power e*trade's easy-to-use tools like dynami

desantis. brian: love desantis factual me to ask. stuart: yes do it now. brian: okay which running merchants them over here there we go, marcia, who's about for trump or desantis and we had the choice. guest: mixing us because i love desantis but the state of florida i would hate for them to lose them. brian: from for selfish reasons he wouldn't vote for him. guest: i think he i would we've had not the real many of leadership since four years ago. brian: weary talk to you, what is your name julie, have you had a choice between trump and desantis. guest: again it is a tough one in trump is really irritating me and talking and calling names to desantis which really irritates me before he started to do that i was a trump and if desantis runs, i'm voting desantis. brian: so 40 miles from the georgia border your thoughts. >> c5 i hate to lose desantis here and we just need to get in control again the boys we had desantis. guest: will for these guys i think it's almost like a family fight and they do

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so i don't know yet about ron desantis. i am not ruling it out, but i think we don't know. >> we don't know a lot, particularly how what some people call short trumpeter and a primer. >> mckay coppins and sarah longwell, thank you but. coming up, republican congressman george santos says he'll listen to the people but the people are saying, get out. why the congressional con man will stay in office as long as he possibly can next. before dexcom g6, my diabetes was out of control. i was tired. not having the energy to do the things that i wanted to do. before dexcom g6, i was frustrated. all of that finger-pricking and all of that pain, my a1c was still stuck. there is a better way to manage diabetes. the dexcom g6 continuous glucose monitoring system eliminates painful fingersticks, helps lower a1c, and it's covered by medicare. before dexcom g6, i couldn't enjoy a single meal. i was always trying to out-guess my glucose and it was awful. (female announcer) dexcom g6 is a small wearable that sends your glucose numbers to yo

is desantis the next donald trump or the next scott walker. he was popular, getting a ton of attention on fox news, ran for president and it was not successful. the polling graph we showed you, desantis has very high numbers for this early in a campaign. goes back to ronald reagan and barack obama, ted kennedy. very well known names there. so that's a good number for him, which is why nate cohen smartly writes in "the new york times" today, what sets mr. desantis apart from mr. walker, how many people already say they want him to be president. overall, desantis has 32% support. so there is a difference in the numbers. the numbers can still be very different from standing on a debate stage where forgive me, but trump, you know, little marco, lying ted, low energy jeb, he's a human chainsaw. >> there doesn't appear to be that much daylight between trump and desantis. policy wise, they lean very to the right, desantis sometimes more than trump. one area, we were talking about social security and medicare. one area trump hit a lot of his republica

that's not a ron desantis pitch. that is someone who is trying to carve out their own lane and it was done well. >> and certainly very clear she wants the job as opposed to some saying, well, is she going to settle for vice president. she made it clear she is running for the job. harry, on that front, where do you see -- so haley announced, desantis hasn't, everyone believes he will and trump. haley and desantis. >> right now she's averaging 3% in the polls and that is low in most nominees from polling better than that or most poll better in the early polls. there are, in fact, a few who polled nikki haley's level or worse and went on to win the nomination. jimmy carter in 1976. donald trump was polling very low in the early 2016 polls. right? we tend to forget that, but he skyrocketed once he announced. compare to someone like ron desantis, who is polling 32%. there have been five republicans who polled at that level, all but one of them won, of course, rudy giuliani the lone exception. i'm sorry to break your heart

sheriff desantis. >> sheriff desantis. he loves the culture war. >> yeah. >> how is that working for him? >> i mean the fact that we're talking about it. the fact that he's made himself a recognize named not just in florida gives him an idea i feel is working for him. we can look at the issue of education. we can look at the idea that he's running, and says i'm done with the woke educators. he doesn't want critical race theory being taught in schools. if we look at the polling nationally and say are americans satisfied or dissatisfied with the state, most americans say they're dissatisfied, and the vast majority of republicans say they're dissatisfied at this particular point. if we look particularly at critical race theory, whatever that exactly means, right, but he's going to run at it, if you say okay, do you believe that critical race theory should be taught in schools, what do we see? we see that the majority, in fact, far less than a majority of americans say that critical race theory -- look at this, 39% of all vote

coming up, is now the time for governor ron desantis to take a hard line on ukraine. charlie hurts on how the ukraine war could become the defining issue for the 2024 presidential primary. t reatment for severe eosinophilic asthma that can mean less oral steroids. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your asthma specialist about a nunormal with nucala. pete: been a year of war in ukraine and opportunistic ed suggests that it's time for ron desantis to take a new position. peace and weakness never works and peace through strength does and new political opening for the candidate willing to take it and criticized mr. biden for the policy to elmore bolden him in the first place. his dot ling on --ed to ling on the ewe -- dottling on the reel. char

issues desantis raised. the college board say it's didn't do so based on pressure from the governor. karen, you heard governor desantis earlier today. he returns to this issue again and again and again. is he smart to revel in this particular fight? >> i think he believes that this is a winning issue for him, and this is, from a political context, more evidence, of course, of ron desantis really moving to the far right and really trying to claim that mantle and claim that lane in what is likely to be a crowded 2024 republican primary. and so i'm sure we're going to hear him come back to this over and over again. he thinks it's a winning issue without thinking about the impact that it has on students in his state. >> so, eric, desantis said today that he is confident that he's far from feeling alone this way, but that he is the only one actually willing to take up the fight. here's how he put it. >> we were just the only ones that had the backbone to stand up and do it because they call you names and they dem

second choice would be ron desantis. speaking of asa hutchinson, he was asked last week about the potential to run for the office of president on an interview with cbs. here is a portion. >> recently --[video clip] >> you have been to new hampshire and south carolina. reading the tea leaves you might make addictions. last year is said definitively you expect to make a decision in the first part of next year as to whether or not you would run for president. now that we are officially in that window, i wondered you have anything to announce? >> certainly whenever you see nikki haley jumping in there, you see donald trump already in there, you know we will have to make some decisions. obviously the fact that i am in some of the early states, but also going to arizona, talking about ideas and solutions for our border crisis and immigration issues we face. these are important times for me to get that consistent conservative message out there. that is what i'm doing first and foremost. last year i did believe a candidate would

desantis was married at disney. and the company has contributed more than $100,000 to his political action committee after he was elected governor. disney also gave more than $1.3 million to the florida republican party during desantis' first term. >> making sure that disney doesn't have self-governing status anymore [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: but now florida republicans say this is the proposal needed to level the playing field, taking away special privileges from disney, and laying out who is in charge. and you know, erin, remember here in florida, it is a republican-led legislature. so, by all accounts, this is expected to pass by the end of the week, in which case the next big question will be -- and actually this came up in conversations with lawmakers today, who will governor ron desantis appoint to that board? erin? >> thank you very much, leyla. let's go down to republican strategist and former senior adviser to trump's 2020 campaign. governor desantis is happy to take the money from disney. it pay

and they see ron desantis on that path. and they're willing to spend liberally, in this case, to widen that path and pave it for him. what's amazing about it, kate, is that he's not even a declared candidate. but you can see people at the top of the party on the fundraising side coalescing around him. but you also see people on the grassroots side as well. so right now desantis is really in a different universe when it comes to these donors and political supporters and virtually anyone else who's looking to challenge trump. >> let's compare the desantis money haul to donald trump's from what we have right now. desantis' $75.5 million in cash on hand. trump, $81 million. and, as you rightfully perfectly stated, scott, desantis hasn't even declared. when you see that, i mean, should trump be worried? >> oh, yeah. he should definitely be worried. if you look at the numbers, desantis and trump in a lot of the polling have very similar favorability ratings, which are quite high. but desantis has virtually no unfavorability numbe

i think that this visit for desantis is smart. nikki haley announced she's running for president and got a lot of attention. desantis, all he has to do is leave florida state lines and gets a ton of attention. >> jeanine: one thing that ron desantis talked about is how absurd the bail law is in new york. new york is the only state that you cannot consider the dangerousness of the perp. makes sense? >> piers: a lot of what he does and says makes sense. his rhetoric makes sense. i don't identify as a conservative, although we're in a world of limitless identification. maybe tomorrow i will. >> greg: you're a nonbinary conservative. >> piers: yeah. the woke brigade drives me nuts. bill mahr said this. there's people left that look at these woke people -- i leak at joy reid. i think in my worst nightmares, i wake up in a pool of sweat because i've been trapped on a desert island with joy reid for the rest of my natural life. it eats inside my soul. it's like a flesh-eating bug. when she says the whole war against wokeness is really a

so, ron desantis has to at least play nice somewhat with trump there are voters who may like ron desantis but they are trump voters and they could sway either way. it's going to be difficult there at the same time, though, ron desantis understands that there are a lot of people in the republican party who think that there should be newer and younger leadership and who want to, you know, go separate way from donald trump. so, he is in an awkward position. it's a narrow tight rope and i think we will see in the next couple weeks how he walks that rope. >> definitely. on the other side, 2024 presidential nominee should president biden run or should someone else run on the democratic side? 37% for president biden and the "new york times" says he has a succession problem. those who love mr. biden the most dreaded inevitable republican ad that raises the possibility of his not being able to finish a second term strings together his most embarrassing bobbles and bloopers into a 30 second thread. it's no betrayal of him for the public spirited democrats want to to address these issues head on. si

they want to talk about wokeism. >> especially desantis. >> especially desantis. other folks like the marjorie taylor greenes and the lauren boeberts, they're not here to govern. they're here to get attention and do grievance politics and politics of revenge. biden is forcing republicans to talk about policy. it's not where they win. it's where democrats win. so it's a really -- i mean it's a masterful thing, and if i were him, if i were democrats, i would use this as a lesson going for the next year and a half. make republicans talk about policies because they don't want to. they want to talk about mr. potato head. >> so enter nancy mace, tight re-election race. she comes out with a win. last night, press club dinner. and wow, did she bring it. i get it's supposed to be jokes, but these are the kinds of jokes where it's like, ha ha, just kidding. here she is. >> did you watch mccarthy during the speaker's vote? i know many of you were in the halls of congress during that vote. i haven't seen someone a -- we all new matt gaetz would never let the vote get to 18. i

here is what ron desantis had to say. governor desantis: my signature in this bill will impose florida law on this area, just like it is imposed on universal studios and sea world and all of these other places. and this bill and the structure we have created in this bill will ensure that the municipal debt that has been racked up will be paid by disney, not by florida taxpayers. james: with me is our north america correspondent. i learned earlier today that ron desantis got married at disney world back in 2009. he is now the governor. why has he made disney world such a centerpiece? anthony: you can't understate how important disney is to florida's economy and the influence it has had. but i think it was a good foil for ron desantis, this california-based company that was objecting to the don't say gay bill, as you mentioned. it was a chance for desantis to make his point that there are corporations in this country, in his view, that are too liberal, pressured shareholders, the public, to spout liberal agendas. and this w