DeSantis is Pearl Jam to Trump’s Van Halen. Both equally rock.

The difference is DeSantis doesn’t have the Trump theatre; frills and tassels, glam, or glitter.

For a lot of voters worn out by the self-centred, second term Obama era politics down-grading Western civilisation for the past 11-years, that’s a good thing.

The sell wasn’t sentimentalism, it was nostalgia.

DeSantis turned up, tapped in, and hit all the right notes.

People are homesick for saner days.

This isn’t Trump 2.0, this is Team DeSantis stating, “I get it. This is serious. We’ve got a working plan. Now let my team in.”

To the 714,000 who turned up, DeSantis framed his presidential run as the “Great American Comeback.”

His reasons for running included, the abuse of power during COVID, the weaponizing of government to attack the middle class, the border crisis, spiking crime, and the “floundering, Biden White House taking its cues from the Woke mob.”

“I don’t think it has to be this way. American decline is not inevitable. It is a choice,” DeSantis exclaimed.

“We should choose a new direction; a path that will lead to American revitalisation, and restore sanity to our nation.”

This, he said, “means embracing fiscal and economic sanity,” by tackling government spending, and replacing “the Woke Mind Virus with reality, facts, and enduring principles.”

“Merit must trump identity politics,” DeSantis argued.

 “We can’t have inmates running the asylum, and must reject a tax on the men and women of law enforcement.”

A military vet, he then added, “We must restore integrity to our institutions. This includes the military.”

Describing Woke indoctrination replacing precision practice with men parading painted nails as “distractions,” DeSantis said,

“When revered institutions like our military are more concerned with matters not central to the mission, whether it’s global warming, or gender ideology pronouns, moral declines and recruiting suffers.”

Additionally, DeSantis slammed the trend allowing the “whims of unelected bureaucrats” to determine the response to significant issues, rather than the “people’s elected representatives.”

Differentiating his platform from Trump, and the Democrats, DeSantis explained,

“We understand that government is not about entertainment. It’s not about building a brand, or virtue signalling. It’s about delivering results.”

Pledging to reverse Biden’s policies, the 2024 presidential hopeful added,

“We will reverse policies harmful to working Americans, and build a working economy where those Americans can achieve a good standard of living.”

This can be done, he said, because we’ve done it in Florida.

We chose “facts instead of fear, education instead of indoctrination, law and order over rioting and disorder,” DeSantis explained.

“We held the line, when freedom hung in the balance, and Florida is thriving as a result.”

The sunshine state Governor also committed to a 2016 Trump promise to build a border wall.

This would enable responsible border control, stop drug cartels, and better police human trafficking.

On the vaccine mandates, DeSantis spoke about the Woke White House’s medical authoritarianism, stating,

“We will ensure that those violations of liberty can never happen again.”

Referring to his well-reported “Florida is where Woke goes to die” comments, DeSantis said,

“We will never surrender to the Woke mob, and we will leave Woke ideology in the dustbin of history.”

Promising to end “Biden’s weaponization of the administrative state,” DeSantis vowed to “re-constitutionalise the executive branch, and bring the administrative state to heal.”

None of this, he said, can be achieved without Republicans “looking forward,” realising that “tired [political] dogmas of the past are inadequate for a vibrant future.”

We must win, because “there is no substitute for victory, and I will get the job done.”

DeSantis’ 10-minute “historic” Twitter speech announcing his run for president was Generation X at their very best.

Musk, and DeSantis, stumbling over tech issues was akin to them lining up a jump, stacking the BMX, laughing it off, then getting back on the bike again.

This was a “mission focused” pitch accompanied by an uncomplicated tenacity, and unpolished honesty.

Musk and DeSantis are saying, “Who cares who’s looking? This needs to be fixed. Let’s just get the job done.”