ANDERSON — Florida governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Rob DeSantis kicked off his Veterans for DeSantis campaign at Anderson University, the first stop of several on a tour of the Palmetto State.
He spent the bulk of his almost 40-minute speech talking to and about veterans, including his own military service that he contends makes him a stand-out candidate as the sole veteran in the race.
For Easley veteran John Schafer, the military connection comes secondary to sharing conservative views. DeSantis is the candidate for Schafer because his policies align with former President Donald Trump — but there’s a lack of attitude.
“He’s got your same basic mindset and value set that Trump did when he was here, but he does not have Trump’s baggage,” Schafer said.
On the private Christian college campus, DeSantis opened his speech with a joke about a congressman entering heaven. It took him less than two minutes to address the war in Israel and his supportive stance.
“They have a right to defend themselves,” DeSantis said. “They have a right to ensure that Israeli citizens are not butchered by terrorists like had happened on Oct. 7, and that means not only can they go in against Hamas, they have every right to eradicate Hamas off the face of this Earth.”
It was his most-mentioned topic aside from military support, telling the room of 400 people that not “one red cent” of their tax dollars should be sent to Palestine.
He stopped short of naming former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley by name, but reiterated the U.S. should not accept any refugees from Palestine.
“That’s not our role to be doing that,” he said. “Those Arab countries should take them in in the neighboring area, but I don’t want to import the pathologies of the Gaza strip into the United States of America.”
DeSantis and Haley have sparred from afar, with Haley’s telling CNN the U.S. has “always been sympathetic to the fact that you can separate civilians from terrorists.”
The Veterans for DeSantis coalition launched Oct. 18 with his kickoff event in Anderson. Thursday’s crowd at the 4,100-person university was largely students with several veterans mixed in the auditorium inside the student union.
For juniors Glen Mason and Camden Davis, the kickoff was a chance to see a candidate in person to help them make informed decisions.
With the next Republican debate coming Nov. 8, Mason is trying to do as much research as he can on the two candidates he’s got in mind.
“I come from a really pro-military family,” Mason said. “We have a lot of veterans in our family so it was really cool to see him being so caring and empathetic to the veterans.”
Ahead of DeSantis’ visit, South Carolina Democratic Party spokesperson Alyssa Bradley pointed at his voting record in Congress, which she said goes against his platform of veteran support.
“Ron DeSantis is no friend to the thousands of service members and veterans who call the Palmetto State home,” she said in her statement. “DeSantis has spent his political career opposing support for veterans — voting against federal funding for the VA, blocking affordable health care for Florida veterans, and putting MAGA culture wars above national security. South Carolina veterans see right through DeSantis for the failure he truly is.”
Anderson University is a private Christian college just outside its namesake downtown in South Carolina.
From Anderson, the DeSantis campaign headed to Rock Hill for meeting at a local VFW. On Oct. 20, he has a similar event planned in Murrells Inlet and a “DeSantis for President” rally the same afternoon in Myrtle Beach.
