Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling California Gov. Gavin Newsom to the debate stage, but he issued a reminder: Florida's governance has already settled the issue.
Migration to the "free state of Florida," while California sheds taxpayers and congressional membership, proves that America has already decided the better path forward, according to DeSantis.
"The debate between California and Florida is already over," DeSantis tweeted Thursday. "People have been voting with their feet for years."
Still, DeSantis vows to debate Newsom, who DeSantis has long chided for being afraid to officially enter the 2024 presidential race.
"But the debate about the future of our country is one we need to have," DeSantis' tweet read. "I'm game to talk about my plans to reverse the decline in this country anytime, anywhere, because I have the best vision for the future of our country."
"Just tell me when and where. We'll do it," DeSantis said Wednesday night.
DeSantis has risen to national prominence with a bold, stand-and-deliver attitude in leading Florida through the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, beating back liberal attacks, even being combative with complicit media in news conferences.
Just look at the data, DeSantis said.
"They have fled California in record numbers," he said. "Florida has been the No. 1 state for net in-migration. We have the No. 1 ranked economy, No. 1 now in education, crime rate at a 50-year low.
"But in another sense, this is the debate for the future of our country, because you have people like Joe Biden [who] would love to see the Californication of the United States. Biden may not even be the nominee. You could have Gavin Newsom, you could have Kamala Harris. And I think if we go down that direction, that's going to accelerate American decline.
"We can't see America decline anymore. We need to reverse American decline."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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