(CN) — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a rising star in the Republican Party and former Donald Trump acolyte, announced his campaign for president of the United States on Wednesday during a plagued Twitter Spaces event.
After nearly a half-hour of technical difficulties, DeSantis made the declaration during a conversation with Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of the social media giant and a supporter of the conservative governor. Just hours earlier, DeSantis officially filed the paperwork to run for office.
“American decline is not inevitable, it is a choice,” said DeSantis, 44. “And we should choose a new direction, a path that will lead to American revitalization. I am running for president of the United States to lead our great American comeback.”
The new candidate then launched into a familiar stump speech attacking President Joe Biden’s “open border,” the “medical communism” of Covid-19 vaccine mandates and “the woke mob.”
“We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track,” DeSantis said.
Then, the event turned into a question-and-answer session between the governor, Musk and venture capitalist David Sacks, who has donated to DeSantis in the past.
After praising the new direction Musk has taken Twitter, DeSantis spent several minutes attacking lockdowns and school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic before switching to his feud with Disney.
"Florida stands for the protection of children we believe jamming gender ideology in elementary school is wrong,” DeSantis said. “Disney obviously supported injecting gender ideology in elementary school.”
Other DeSantis supporters, including U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and podcaster Steve Deace, asked the new candidate about closing the border and banning Bitcoin.
“You have every right to do Bitcoin,” DeSantis exclaimed at one point. “I do not have an itch to have to control everything people may be doing in this space. And the current regime has it out for Bitcoin and in another four years, they will kill it.”
The beginning of the audio chat was beset with problems, cutting in and out, dissonant echoes and a several minutes of dead air. At one point, Sacks said the amount of people, about half a million, was “melting the servers.” After an extended silence, Musk said they were allocating more server space, then the audio cut out again for several minutes.
“We’re just trying, trying to get it going because it’s, there’s just so many people,” Musk said before the feed ended. “It’s unfortunate. I’ve never seen this before.”
Fifteen minutes in, Biden, capitalized on the moment by tweeting, “This link works,” and a site collecting donations for his reelection.
After nearly 30 minutes, the event started in a new Twitter Space link with half the number of attendees.
DeSantis joins a growing GOP field, including Trump, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, South Carolina U.S. Senator Tim Scott and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. Former Vice President Mike Pence is also expected to enter the race soon.
DeSantis’ intention to run for the nation’s top office was one of the worst-kept secrets in Florida politics.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the governor became increasingly critical of lockdowns, mask requirements and vaccine mandates, and sparred publicly with President Joe Biden.
By 2021, as the response to the pandemic began to lose favor among the populace, the governor was touted as a possible contender in the 2024 presidential campaign.
When questioned about possible presidential aspirations, DeSantis always demurred and pointed to the 2022 gubernatorial race. But during the last two legislative sessions, he pushed Florida lawmakers to pass a 6-week abortion ban, end so-called “sanctuary cities” and enact “anti-woke” policies – all major talking points among the nation’s Republicans.