Florida Rhonda scent is rooting for months is announcing he will run for president.
CNN has learned the Florida governor is going to make the announcement tonight during an
interview with Elon Musk on Twitter.
Casey Desantis, who is live for.
Where is the video getting ready to walk it on the stage of the July was overseas.
Nevada I have the courage?
It is worth the sacrifice?
America has been worth it.
Every single time.
>> Desantis has widely been seen as former Donald Trump's leading challenger for the
Republican nomination.
There are questions on what this launch will look like.
The poll numbers have been slipping after shaky performances leading up to this launch.
Trump has been relentlessly
[7:01:26 AM]
Trump has been relentlessly attacking him for months now.
>> And we're now learning that trump and his allies have been preparing for this moment
with a coordinated plan to try to up end Desantis' campaign launch.
There is a Socia G in Miami where Desantis is set to begin meeting with donors today.
Let's begin this hour with Kristen Holmes who joins us now.
You cover all things trump world.
What is this anti-desantis blitz going to look like?
>> Good morning, poppy.
The social media blitz is actually very interesting.
I talked to a number of advisors.
They have been courting the biggest names in conservative new and social
>> That means bringing them down to mar-a-lago, having him fly down on the plane with the
former president, trying to get them to give the former president they're backing.
And we're likely going to see that network at play today.
Now, we are being told by advisers that they are going to hit Desantis on a number of different
policy topics.
That is going to include his reforming entitlement programs, his past views on trade policy,
on China, his covid-19 response when he was the governor of
[7:02:29 AM]
when he was the governor of Florida.
Now in addition to the social media blitz we are also told it is going to include a
rollout of videos, including one of trump directly addressing the camera and Desantis's
candidacy, even with those polls poppy that caitlan just mentioned, even the fact that
trump is leading, there is not a single adviser that I've spoken to that believes that this
is over or who we spoken to.
He believes he will get a boost in the polls after this announcement, and they do believe
that Desantis is trump's biggest competitor.
So they're taking us incredibly seriously, poppy.
>> It is so interesting to see have such a stark difference to how trump almost welcomed
Tim Scott earlier to this race earlier this week.
Is there anyone in trump world that is easier that these attacks on Desantis could actually
not help trump?
>> I would say there are no advisers in trump world who believe that these sustained attacks
on Desantis are going to hurt trump in any way, but I will tell you that I've spoken
to a number of people outside of his orbit, Republican operatives, are people who have
even support the former president who do not want him
[7:03:29 AM]
president who do not want him to continue attacking Desantis.
They want to be able to say that Desantis will run in 2028 when it trump is done, and
that is his time to run.
And it is harder for them to say that and get behind that, if the former president is
constantly attacking Ron Desantis.
>> Kristen, thanks for all of the reporting.
>> A lot of questions about what that is going to look like.
For more on this, let's bring in Sara Fischer, CNN's media analyst and media reporter axios,
CNN correspondent, done o'sullivan and Brett Smith who was the cofounder and editor in
chief of -- done, what do you make of how this is how Desantis is choosing to launch
his campaign in this moment, with Elon Musk?
>> Well, it is Donald Trump's all turf, right?
He used Twitter so effectively.
Look, I mean, I think musk has tried to position this platform as a bastion of free speech,
unless, of course, you are people in Turkey tweeting think that the government doesn't
like up until the election, or a journalist who is tweeting about Elon Musk's jet.
But all of --
[7:04:30 AM]
But all of -- that to one side, a bastion of free speech.
So I think he is very much the Desantis who we know, he loves engaging the culture wars,
he is going to the home of it today.
I have to say they're, I cannot see trump resisting coming back on the platform today,
the last time he tweeted was January 8th, 2021.
I can't see trump giving up the stakes.
>> The legal restraint that held trump on truth social is over now, isn't it?
>> I think it is unclear.
>> It is still not totally clear what the shareholders would make of that.
>> We will see.
Your headline is amazing this morning, Sarah.
>> Thank you.
>> Musk moves in on Murdaugh up --
>> A couple years, ago foxes where you'd expect to see someone like Ron Desantis trying to
kick off his campaign.
The fact that he is going to Twitter, it also suggests and caps off a week of a lot of conservative
movement to Twitter, so it is really normal.
You had tucker Carlson saying he is moving his fox primetime show to Twitter, yesterday,
a reporter at the daily wire said, which is a huge conservative
[7:05:31 AM]
which is a huge conservative entertainment media company, said it is moving its podcast
over to Twitter.
You are gonna start to see a lot more momentum flock there from conservatives, and that used
to be foxes territory.
If you are Rupert Murdoch, this is a scary time.
>> Absolutely right.
Sarah and I had exactly the same take.
Conservatives are both diluted.
I think it is a moment when all media splintering, and fox have this incredible monopoly on the
conservative space, it is going to Twitter.
I do think the question in this moment when things are just so polarized is can Twitter
hold up, if Twitter becomes the central conservative media space, which is an okay business, it
is not a business like being a social platform, can they hold on to anything else, Kimi remain
a sort of central convening space for journalists,, entertainers athletes, I think that is a totally
open question.
>> It is a question, but he is not going on Twitter.
He's expected to go into an interview with Fox News right after this.
So he does have that two-pronged approach.
But they are second, speaking of diluted though, one of trump's packs say, they believe, because
he is launching with Elon Musk, it is one of the
[7:06:31 AM]
Elon Musk, it is one of the most out of touch campaign launches in moderate history.
>> But the thing is, Ron Desantis wanted to be this way.
He has been sending the signal all along throughout his campaign that he can go around the mainstream
media, that is, them, they are the enemy, I don't work with them, out of play ball.
Of course, that is not true.
He still needs to rely on fox News and other mainstream outlets, but in choosing to start
on Twitter and having the press, us, talk about, it he is sending a signal to his supporters,
look, I am the person that is not dealing with that mainstream media like others are.
>> I would say the problem is here he kind of took Donald Trump's attacks on the medias
of literally rather than seriously.
I mean, Donald Trump attacks the media and, as you, know better than any person on the
planet, does it on our platforms in a way that is intended to reach the audience of
this media.
Desantis looks at trump, says, he hates the media, he doesn't deal with the media.
Nobody deals with immediate more than Donald Trump and Donald Trump essentially a media
character whose entire style is to create engagement with us.
Desantis is doing this other,
[7:07:32 AM]
Desantis is doing this other, thing which is almost like listening to closely to trump
and taking it totally literally and not talking to the media.
I think that is a strange move, particularly, if you look at the demographics of the Iowa
caucus were this is actually going to happen.
I was joking at the entrance polls and 16, I think there were more people, about the
same number of people over 65 as there are under 45, so I am not sure it is the social
Twitter audience.
>> Within the Republican conservative right wing online space, this isn't necessarily
just mainstream media, quote unquote, versus Twitter, and social media.
Internally, within that space, you, know Twitter is now competing with the websites like rumble.
Normally, we think of Twitter versus Facebook versus YouTube, now, you know, Twitter and
rumble, which is a new video platform -- Donald >> Trump Jr.
Is on.
>> Signed exclusive partnership with a lot of influential figures on the right.
Twitter is not competing for those people as well.
>> Worth, noting David Sachs,
[7:08:32 AM]
>> Worth, noting David Sachs, who is going to the press and muttering this interview
tonight with rod Desantis on the Twitter spaces.
It is being coasted by Desantis, and a rumble supporter, and affiliated with, them so I
am looking forward to 2024, to donie's point, seeing what the infighting, is not between
the mainstream allies trying to grab for candidates, that's what it's always been, but these new,
sort of right wing outlets are gonna be competing for their attention.
>> Totally fascinating, and the fact that he is a big voice in the business community
to, it is also interesting giving dentists versus Disney.
>>>> Were shocked by that.
>> But he defended how Desantis handled covid back in 2021, he was a big fan of that, and
also, I think what everyone is watching today is not just how he is launching this but what
that actually looks like and if it does help him given he has been slipping in the polls.
>> I guess fox's first on television, because it is audio only on the Twitter announcement.
But >> Twitter under musk has not always been able to stand up in terms of the platform
that is dropped.
>> So hopefully the thing