DeSantis defends Palestinian student group ban, argues NYC indictment helped Trump
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday defended his push to financially cut off radical pro-Palestinian student groups — as well as his decision to stay in the 2024 Republican presidential primary despite trailing Donald Trump in the polls.
DeSantis was pushed by host Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about whether the 77-year-old former president’s mountain of “legal troubles” is the reason the Florida pol has chosen to remain in the race.
“No. I think that had Alvin Bragg not politicized this back in April, I think that probably the primary be looking different,” DeSantis shot back, referring to the Manhattan district attorney, who brought the first criminal case against Trump earlier this year.
“I think that gave the former president more support. I think people felt that he was being treated unfairly, which he was in that circumstance,” DeSantis said of his chief rival.
The governor was also asked to respond to criticism over his announcement last week that the State University System of Florida would be cutting off funding to the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group
Some, including fellow 2024 foe and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, slammed the move as an assault on free speech.
“This is not cancel culture,” DeSantis pushed back on “Meet the Press,” saying that the SJP had hitched its wagon to terrorist groups like Hamas, which launched the Oct. 7 deadly surprise attack on Israel.
“This group, they themselves, said in the aftermath of the Hamas attack, that they don’t just stand in solidarity — that they are part of this Hamas movement,” he continued.
“And so you have a right to go out and demonstrate, but you can’t provide material support to terrorism.”
“Are we just gonna commit suicide as a country and let groups metastasize who were openly siding with brutal terrorist organizations?” DeSantis added. “I don’t think that’s a recipe for a successful country.”
The 2024 Republican hopeful has sought to cast himself a champion of Israel and crowed about Florida’s recent move to assist a private company in evacuating people from the war-torn nation.
Last week, Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), the sole Jewish Republican in the state legislature, switched his endorsement from DeSantis to Trump, arguing in part that the governor hadn’t been nearly as vocal in opposing neo-Nazi harassment in Florida.
“Well, he’s just trying to get his 15 minutes of fame. I mean, this guy was singing my praises a couple of months ago. He’s got his different reasons why he’s doing that. We have acted very, very swiftly and decisively,” DeSantis argued Sunday.
While the 45-year-old Florida governor opined on the political reverberations from Trump’s slew of 91 criminal counts, he also said that “Ultimately, it’s not about the past.”
“It’s not about all these other issues,” he told Welker. “It’s ultimately about how do you get in and reverse the country’s decline.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg slapped Trump with 34 counts for alleged hush money payments to keep porn star Stormy Daniels and others quiet during the 2016 cycle.
Trump is also facing two federal cases: 40 counts for alleged classified document hoarding and four counts related to 2020 election subversion, as well as 13 counts for alleged 2020 election tampering in Georgia.
He has denied wrongdoing across the board.
At one point during the wide-ranging interview, Welker grilled DeSantis about Florida’s gun laws in the wake of the Maine mass shooting in which 18 people were killed and 13 more were wounded by a US Army reservist who police said had a history of mental health issues.
“I would be more aggressive on some of those fringe people who clearly are demonstrating signs that they’re a major danger to society,” DeSantis said.
But the governor rejected a push for so-called red flag laws, in which authorities could temporarily confiscate an individual’s firearms if witnesses see them engaging in some sort of erratic behavior.
“I don’t believe in this idea that government can just take someone’s property and then go through due process later,” DeSantis said.
Welker is set to co-moderate the third 2024 GOP debate in DeSantis’ home state on Nov. 8 alongside fellow NBC anchor Lester Holt and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
Trump appears to be poised to once again skip the debate and tend to his planned rally Hialeah, Fla. just 30 minutes driving distance from the verbal bout.
