The White House will not be renamed the Green, White, and Red House anytime soon as Governor Ron DeSantis announced this week that he would be dropping out of the 2024 race for US president.
This comes as no surprise as DeSantis failed to gain any significant ground on the GOP’s favorite for the nomination, President Donald J. Trump, in the primary elections in Iowa and New Hampshire. Rather than waste time and resources in what appeared to be a futile effort in opposing Trump, the Florida governor opted to end the first presidential campaign by a politician of Italian descent in recent memory. In doing so, he also endorsed the former president as he seeks his re-election bid, noting that “we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear — a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism — that Nikki Haley represents.”
Although he has suspended his campaign for this year’s election, DeSantis is still viewed favorably within Republican circles and should be a viable candidate for the presidency as early as 2028. If he were to represent the Republican party at that time, he would be just the second major-party nominee of Italian ancestry since Al Smith, the former governor of New York and Democratic candidate in 1928.
While this would be a noteworthy achievement, DeSantis hardly if ever alluded to his Italian background while on the campaign trail. In fact, he was even caught changing the pronunciation of his last name several times to make it sound more Americanized. This, coupled with his inability to give any sort of nod to his heritage while running for this nation’s highest office, gives off the impression that the governor may be trying to conceal his ethnic identity. While this is pure speculation, it is plausible given his stance on immigration policy.
Whatever the case, DeSantis is currently the Italian-American community’s best chance to hold the position of president of the United States in the future. Despite having three consecutive Speakers of the House who were of Italian descent, an Italian-American has never been named commander in chief, nor has anyone from the community ever held the vice presidency. Geraldine Ferraro came close in 1984 as the first and only vice-presidential candidate with an Italian background but ultimately lost to the Republican ticket of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
While joining forces with Trump as his running mate is not completely out of the question for DeSantis in 2024, it remains highly unlikely. For now, the governor will likely focus his efforts on seizing this opportunity to prove his leadership potential in Florida as he executes his vision for the Sunshine State.
Thank God. Desantis was giving Italians a bad name
He is a fincochio….