DeSantis’s failed leadership bid gives a hint of how he frames US defence policy
Like a number of those who Donald Trump has chosen for his cabinet positions, Ron DeSantis has had a spectacularly varied relationship with the president-elect.
“Ron DeSanctimonious” was Mr Trump’s nickname for the Florida governor as they vied for the Republican Party leadership just under two years ago.
Back then, Mr DeSantis, with conservative politics and policies, was seen as Mr Trump without the chaos; a genuine contender at one point to be the Republican nominee for president.
He is no establishment politician. Deeply sceptical of the media and vehemently anti-woke. He’s a self-styled woke warrior who has banned school books which he deems inappropriate. He’d take that agenda to the Pentagon.
During his failed leadership run we got a hint of how he frames American defence and foreign policy.
He made clear that he saw China as the United States’ most prescient military threat and he proposed the expansion of US Naval forces in a “four oceans” approach which involved an increase in US vessels and said he would prioritise weapons sales to Taiwan.
On Ukraine, he caused a huge stir in March 2023 by describing Mr Putin’s invasion and the ongoing war as a “territorial dispute” that did not represent a “vital national interest” of the United States.
He later revised the comments saying they were “mischaracterised” and that Mr Putin was a “war criminal”.
Before politics he was a military lawyer. He trained at Harvard and joined the US Navy in 2004. He served at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba and in Iraq where his legal judgments framed US military rules of engagement.