Florida Governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis (R) announced on Friday that he is actively exploring the option of excluding President Joe Biden from the Florida ballot.
This move comes in response to Democratic states’ efforts to eliminate former President Donald Trump from their ballots. Notably, last month, the Colorado Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, prohibited Trump’s name from appearing on the presidential primary ballot, invoking the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment.
“Any time you have a partisan secretary of state, they’re gonna go after the other party’s candidate, and this is just gonna be tit for tat, and it’s not gonna end well,” DeSantis said, detailing the consequences if Trump is indeed removed from Colorado’s ballot.
Trump has lodged an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the state’s decision, and the court has granted consideration of the case.
“You could make a case — we’re actually, I’m actually looking at this in Florida now,” DeSantis said. “Could we make a credible case that Biden, because of the invasion of eight million?” the governor said, referring to illegal immigrants crossing our southern border.
Millions of undocumented immigrants have crossed the border during President Biden’s term, prompting pleas for relief from Americans in even the most liberal cities. The Biden administration, despite reversing several crucial Trump-era policies that previously curbed migrant influx, continues to attribute the ongoing immigration surge to Republicans.
“Again, I don’t think that’s the right way to do it,” the Florida governor argued, but added that he will fight back against Democrats using their same tactics.
“I think if this is going to happen for them … I don’t believe in fighting with one hand tied behind your back,” he said. “Whatever the rules are applied to us, we’re going to fight back and play the rules the other way.”
“You know, we’ve got a better way forward,” DeSantis added. “We’re not going to have to worry about those issues. And then when I become president, I’m going to be able to address all the lawfare and all the weaponization, and we’ll be able to end this stuff once and for all.”
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to expedite proceedings on the ballot matter, commencing oral arguments on February 8.
