That's right... I just said much the same to @Bigun just above this post.
It ain't about DeSantis... But rather, what he represents. What he can do that Tumpy never could, is harness the conservative factions together... Foremost, that.
He's served, and a military background goes a long way with the DEFCONs.
He's TEA, and his record says so... So he's in with FICONs and Libertarians...
And he is standing in a maelstrom against woke crap, which shows his SOCON credz...
I think he is strong... Where he may lack is in foreign policy. But his tour as governor has included that to some degree... And Governor - Let's not forget that...
He's got all the meters pokin in the Right direction...
He served but -- non-combat -- In 2004, during his second year at Harvard Law, DeSantis was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy and assigned to the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG). He completed Naval Justice School in 2005. Later that year, he reported to the JAG Trial Service Office Command South East at Naval Station Mayport, Florida, as a prosecutor. He was promoted from lieutenant, junior grade to lieutenant in 2006.
In the spring of 2006, DeSantis arrived at Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), working directly with detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. The records of his service in the Navy were often redacted upon release to the public, to protect personal privacy, according to the Navy. Mansur Ahmad Saad al-Dayfi, who was held at Guantanamo, alleged in 2022 that DeSantis oversaw force-feedings of detainees.
In 2007, DeSantis reported to the Naval Special Warfare Command Group in Coronado, California, where he was assigned as a legal adviser to SEAL Team One; he deployed to Iraq in the fall of 2007 as part of the 2007 troop surge. He served as legal adviser to Dane Thorleifson, the SEAL Commander of the Special Operations Task Force-West in Fallujah.
DeSantis returned to the U.S. in April 2008, reassigned to the Naval Region Southeast Legal Service. The U.S. Department of Justice appointed him to serve as a Special Assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Florida. DeSantis was assigned as a trial defense counsel until his honorable discharge from active duty in February 2010. He concurrently accepted a reserve commission as a lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the US Navy Reserve.
During his military career, DeSantis was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Iraq Campaign Medal. He was still serving in the U.S. Navy Reserve as of his transition to the governorship. His U.S. Navy service ended on February 12, 2019, a month after his gubernatorial inauguration, with the rank at retirement of lieutenant commander.
