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There are several easily recognisable ways of knowing when Donald Trump feels threatened by a political opponent.

And, without having even entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination, it's clear Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has got inside the former president's head.

First came the nicknames "Ron DeSanctimonious", among others followed by Trump's claim the governor would be working in a pizza parlour without his earlier endorsement.

A fundraising body backing Trump has alreadyreleased TV ads arguing DeSantis is "just not ready to be president" and even mocking him for how he reportedly ate a messy dessert with his fingers.

Trump remains for now, at least in a strong position heading into the race to be the Republican nominee.

While criminal charges over payments to a porn star would derail most political careers, he's using his unprecedented indictment in New York to rally Republican support.

He has extended his sizeable lead over DeSantis in recent polls and picked up a string of endorsements from members of Congress.

However, as Trump has been engulfed by legal dramas, his potential rival has been crisscrossing the United States,selling his new book and his vision for the country.

One of its chapters is titled Make America Florida, a slogan that appears on "DeSantis 2024" merchandise worn by his supporters.

It's a reference to the winning political playbook DeSantis has honed in his home state, including his so-called "war on woke".

It's also aclue to his larger ambitions.

With a potential showdown for the Republican nomination looming, the question now is whether DeSantis's "war on woke" will resonate beyond Florida's borders and help him succeed on the national stage.

DeSantis has built a national profile, partly by making Florida the epicentre of America's culture wars.

The 44-year-old secured a landslide victory in last year's governor's race and argues the result gave him a mandate to reshape Florida as he sees fit.

He now proudly proclaims his state as the place where"woke goes to die".

"A lot of people have no clue what 'woke' means," said Susan MacManus, a political analyst who has spent decades observing Florida politics.

"But they often assume, if they're conservative, if it's coming out of the governor's mouth, woke must be really liberal. And they don't like it."

In Florida, DeSantis has made education his battleground, pursuing changes over issues like race and gender which have divided parents, teachers and students.

They include legislation, signed by the governor last year, banning classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identitybetween kindergarten andyear three.

Officially called the Parental Rights in Education Act, it was quickly dubbed "Don't say gay" by critics.

The state's education department has now expandedthe ban to all year levels, except where it's "expressly required" by state standards, orduring reproductive health classes, from which parents can withdraw their children.

"In the state of Florida we're proud to stand for education, not indoctrination, in our schools," DeSantis said in a speech earlier this year.

The state legislature is also considering a bill that would restrict the use of preferred pronouns in schools.

DeSantis's position on these issues has only made him more popular with conservative parents group Moms for Liberty, an organisation founded in Florida as part of the pushback against classroom COVID-19 measures, such as mask mandates.

"He defends freedom, he defends education and the innocence of our children," the group's director of Hispanic outreach, Catalina Stubbe, told Foreign Correspondent.

"Parental rights are the rights that God givesyou when your child is born.

"That means you are the only one taking all the decisionsover your children, being medical, education, morality, religion, everything."

She claims students are being subjected to a "radical left agenda", echoing the governor's message of "education, not indoctrination".

"When an adult talks to children about sexuality and genitalia and how they feel today about coming out of the closet, and whatever, this is child abuse," she said.

"They're using the taxpayer to push a radical agenda."

Florida schoolteacher Anita Hatcher finds the accusation outrageous.

She argues LGBT staff and students are being further marginalised for political purposes.

"I believe that it comes from a place of fear," she said. "Fear breeds prejudice and prejudice breeds hate.

"And he's tapping into this fear that other people have and he's making a political career out of it."

Anita's 17-year-old son is transgender and moved to live with family interstate after he was allegedly told that his identity would not be respected at his Florida school.

She feels like the concept of parental rights does not apply to everyone in what DeSantis describes as the "free state" of Florida.

"If you line up with Ron DeSantis, you'll have his type of freedom," she said.

"He's disregarding and through legislation, trying to cancel anyone who doesn't see 'free' the way he sees it."

The governor's intervention in the public school system has sparked major controversy in Florida, but it's also prompted similar legislation in a number of other Republican-held states.

His ability to energise voters on the issue of education has already ensured it's becoming a major focus of the 2024 presidential race, including with his chiefRepublican rival.

"I said the other day I will bring back parental rights into our school system, right, and the place went crazy," Donald Trump recently told a crowd in Iowa.

"The place goes crazy because our country has gone crazy."

Trump did weigh into education while he was still in office, but now he's pledging to abolish the federal Department of Education and has also proposed that school principals should be elected by parents.

While Trump has moved to neutralise the issue, some voters still see DeSantis as the stronger candidate to take on Joe Biden in 2024.

The governor'sthumping election victory last year stood in starkcontrast to the underwhelming performances of many Trump-backed candidates at the midterm elections.

Some supporters argue he not only brings a recent track record of electoral victories, but also is a far less polarising figure than the former president, making him more appealingin a general election.

"If it came down to choosing between Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump, I would choose Ron DeSantis any day of the week," said Marius Mocan, a realtor who moved to Florida during the pandemic.

"No matter where you stand politically, I think people would be more content with him and feel more at ease."

Critics say the governor has adapted and even sharpened the former president's own playbook of divisive politics.

"I call DeSantis 'Baby Trump'," said Marvin Dunn, an academic who is challenging changes to the way racial history can be taught in Florida.

"DeSantis may be more effective because he's not as foolish and as narcissistic as Trump is."

Dr Dunn has criticised legislation known as the Stop WOKE Act, which would mean the state's history cannot be taught in a way that "indoctrinates" students or instructs them to feel guilty because of their race.

"We are not going to tell some kindergartener that theyre an oppressor, based on their race, based on what happened 100 or 200 years ago," DeSantis said.

Dr Dunndenies that's happening in Florida schools and, instead, sees the law, and the broader anti-woke argument, as a strategic ploy.

"Intentionally pitting people, one against the other, intentionally creating a monster, just so [DeSantis] can be the one that slays it," he said.

While Trump fights various legal battles, DeSantis is trying to lean into his moniker of "Trump without the chaos".

Theformer presidentis at the centre of several investigations, including federal probes into the January 6 Capitol riots and allegations of election interference in Georgia.

He's dismissed all of them as being politically motivated, butany additional charges would further complicate his campaign and could steer some voters towards an alternative candidate with less baggage.

"I voted for [Trump], twice, but I don't know if I can again," said Michael Carr, a 26-year-old who was waiting in line to see the governor at one of his book-signing events.

"[Trump's] gotten too much with the conspiracies and DeSantis has actually won with results that can get things done."

DeSantis has made the most of Republican super-majorities in Florida's legislature, racking up a list of achievements he could point to in a primary fight with Trump, including loosening gun laws and tightening abortion restrictions.

"One of my first orders of business after getting elected was to have my transition team amass an exhaustive list of all the constitutional, statutoryand customary powers of the governor," DeSantis wrote in his autobiography.

"I wanted to be sure that I was using every lever available to advance our priorities."

That has included using his authority to open up another front in his "anti-woke" battle: Florida's higher education system.

The governor appointed six conservative allies to the board of New College, a small liberal arts school that he hasaccused of being captured by leftist ideology.

Thatnew board swiftly replaced the college president and scrapped the campus's office for diversity, equity and inclusion, known as DEI.

It's part of a broader pushback against DEIwhich, DeSantis argues, creates division.

He has also extended his influence at the most-local level, becoming the first governor in Florida to endorse candidates for school board races.

Many of his candidates won, ensuring more support for his agenda on the boards thatgovern how schools in their districts operate.

"Now's not the time to be a shrinking violet," he told a Moms for Liberty event last year. "You've got to stand up and you've got to fight."

DeSantis has historic levels of support as Florida's governor, but among his biggest backers in that role are those who don't want him to run for president just yet.

"The Trump-era movement is strong and it got people very passionate," MsStubbe said. "So, I think [DeSantis] can wait until Trump is done with that."

Some of the former president's most loyal fans have also warned DeSantis would be punished by voters if he cut his term as governor short.

Paula Magnuson is part of a small group of Trump supporters who regularly wave signs and flags near the former president's Mar-a-lago property in Florida.

"I feel [DeSantis] made a promise and he's going to destroy his own career if he runs against Trump," she said. "He's young, he has time."

The governor is reportedly waiting until the state legislative session ends in May before announcing whether he's entering the race.

In the meantime, he's continuing to point towards a presidential bid by touring states that will be critical to building early momentum in the primary.

Regardless of whether DeSantis secures the Republican nomination or not, his "war on woke" has already redrawn the battle lines in the coming fight for the White House.

The first votes won't be cast for another 10 months, but the divisions inside the party are stark.

If Trump does go down to DeSantis, it won't be without an almighty fight.

Watch The War on Woketonight on Foreign Correspondent, 8pm on ABC TV, ABC iview and YouTube.

Read more from the original source:
He's rattled Donald Trump. Could Ron DeSantis's 'war on woke' take him to the White House? - ABC News