Everyone is keeping an eye on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Are there signs he will jump into the Republican presidential primary race? Yes. He visited three major Democrat-led cities on Monday and delivered pro-police speeches. He went to New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago. He met with sheriffs, chiefs of police, and other local law enforcement officials to provide encouragement to those who feel unsupported by their local governments.

We know that law and order and crime will be major issues for Republican candidates in 2024. DeSantis ruffled some feathers, especially in New York City, when he spoke about woke politicians who are putting their city’s residents in jeopardy with their policies. He is happy to boast about his successes in Florida and the fact that while other places are experiencing an increase in crime, Florida is not. Some critics complained that DeSantis came to the cities to recruit police officers to come to Florida. He recently proposed legislation to strengthen bail laws, toughen penalties for sex criminals, and other anti-crime measures.

DeSantis implemented the largest recruitment package for law enforcement officers in state history last year. It provides a $5,000 signing bonus to officers willing to relocate to Florida from blue states.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams welcomed DeSantis before he arrived in the city with a tweet full of snark.

Welcome to NYC, @GovRonDeSantis, a place where we don’t ban books, discriminate against our LGBTQ+ neighbors, use asylum seekers as props, or let the government stand between a woman and health care.

We’re happy to teach you something about values while you’re here. https://t.co/o2CgOt1SES

— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) February 20, 2023

Christina Pushaw did what she does so well – she responded in support of DeSantis and Florida.

Nice rhetoric — but here’s reality: More Americans fled NYC than any other metro area last year.

More Americans moved to Florida than any other state.

You know this, Mayor Adams, and you’ve talked (accurately) about crime pushing people out of NYC. Florida’s crime rate… https://t.co/gHru8I12PS

— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) February 20, 2023

DeSantis is about to do a book tour for his autobiography, titled “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival,” which will be released next week. Pundits point to the cross-country book tour as a soft open to his 2024 presidential campaign. It is not an exaggeration to say that other potential Republican candidates are keeping a close eye on DeSantis. The most vocal critic is Donald Trump. He has been struggling to find a nickname for DeSantis and usually settles for Ron DeSanctimonious, which is just lame. He uses Truth Social to blast DeSantis on a regular basis. Will Trump go back to Twitter now that Elon Musk has given him the ok? Trump doesn’t have a big audience on Truth Social as he does on Twitter.

“Ron DeSanctimonious wants to cut your Social Security and Medicare,” Trump wrote Sunday night, “closed up Florida & its beaches, loves RINOS Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush, and Karl Rove (disasters ALL!), is backed by Globalist’s Club for NO Growth, Lincoln Pervert Project, & ‘Uninspired’ Koch — And it only gets worse from there. He is a RINO in disguise!, whose Poll numbers are dropping like a rock. Good luck Ron!”

“If he did run, I will tell you things about him that won’t be very flattering,” Trump told the outlet. “I know more about him than anybody other than perhaps his wife, who is really running his campaign.”

Trump later unleashed a more than a 400-word tirade against DeSantis, slamming the governor as “average” and lacking “class” and “loyalty.” He criticized DeSantis for ordering lockdowns in Florida, saying the governor “didn’t have to close up his State, but did, unlike other Republican Governors,” and he credited himself for DeSantis’ 2018 gubernatorial win against disgraced Democrat Andrew Gillum.

The attacks against DeSantis over his response to the pandemic are interesting. Trump knows that he is vulnerable since he followed the advice of Fauci and the CDC and supported shutting down the country to mitigate the pandemic. He kept Fauci and others in place to lead the response to the pandemic. DeSantis did shut down Florida but not until Trump had already put in place his “15 Days to Slow the Spread” plan. That plan recommended governors shut down schools, restaurants, and other public places. Florida was one of the first to open back up and to this day, DeSantis receives criticism for not being authoritarian enough in Florida.

Trump looks weak in his attacks on DeSantis. Democrats and Never-Trumpers are cheering Trump’s attack in the hopes of damaging DeSantis. They don’t want Biden to have to run against DeSantis in 2024, they prefer Trump. They know DeSantis will beat Biden and Trump will not. They want another Biden-Trump match-up in 2024.

This isn’t 2015, though, and other Republicans have seen Trump’s playbook. They are not intimidated. Some are pre-emptively dinging DeSantis.

Nikki Haley claimed that the Florida bill for parental rights in the classroom didn’t go far enough. Others claimed DeSantis is too much for big government or not fiscally conservative enough.

“There was all this talk about the Florida bill — the ‘don’t say gay bill.’ Basically what it said was you shouldn’t be able to talk about gender before third grade. I’m sorry. I don’t think that goes far enough,” Haley told supporters in New Hampshire. “When I was in school you didn’t have sex ed until 7th grade. And even then, your parents had to sign whether you could take the class.”

Another potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, on Sunday blasted DeSantis’ education initiatives as “big government” and even “authoritarian.”

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, another potential candidate, has also fired shots at DeSantis in recent weeks.

“I’m ranked the most fiscally conservative governor in the country,” he told Politico this month. “I’m No. 1 in personal freedoms. Sorry, Ron, you’re No. 2.”

Larry Hogan is a joke. He has dreams of being president but he’ll never get anywhere in the primary. Sununu is a solid candidate but hasn’t captured the imagination of voters despite being on cable news shows every chance he gets. Haley is the only one so far to challenge Trump. Fox News Channel has her on at least one of their shows every day, it seems. Hogan favors appearances on CNN.

I visited NYC, Chicago, & Philadelphia to meet with the men & women of law enforcement to discuss FL's commitment to law & order.

Woke policies enacted by Leftist politicians have proven to be disastrous & these cities need to embrace law & order policies & support the police. pic.twitter.com/qvv71iryVP

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantisFL) February 21, 2023

Trump is going to East Palestine, Ohio tomorrow, a trip that Biden has failed to make. It will create a big media buzz for Trump. DeSantis indicated that he will wait for the Florida Legislature’s session to end, likely by June before he makes his decision known. So far, he has refused to get in the mud with Trump and ignores his attacks. It drives Trump crazy to be ignored.