The Horn News

Proudly American, Fiercely Independent

Ron DeSantis just attacked Trump (He’s running in 2028?)

By:

by Frank Holmes, reporter

Although President Donald Trump has not been in office for a full year, one of his top Republican rivals appears to be gearing up for a 2028 presidential campaign—and he’s already picking fights with the president.

What’s more, the potential 2028 Republican hopeful is gaining points with the Trump administration’s grassroots supporters by highlighting two of Trump’s major vulnerabilities.

Believe it or not, one of them is immigration.

President Trump has closed the border, released zero terrorists into the U.S., and slammed shut “refugee” claims from terrorist countries.

But President Trump ran into a huge landmine when he defended H-1B visas, which often deprive Americans of white-collar jobs, in an interview with Laura Ingraham in early November.

When Ingraham said Americans “have plenty of talent,” Trump pushed back—hard.

“No, no you don’t,” Trump responded. “You can’t take people off an unemployment line and say. ‘I’m gonna put you into a factory where we’re gonna make missiles.’”

His words created a huge falling out with his MAGA base—and with all Americans who wonder why we would want foreigners making our missiles.

The president tried to recover about a week later, saying he meant people with temporary visas “will teach our people how to make computer chips,” and then “those people can go home.”

But the damage was done—and Trump’s Republican presidential rival took full advantage.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis undoubtedly knew certain figures in the Trump administration wanted the president to waiver on the issue and made a preemptive strike.

In October, DeSantis ordered Florida college administrators to “pull the plug on the use of these H-1B visas in our universities.” If the state needs a job done, “we can do it with Florida residents or with Americans,” he said.

DeSantis killed two possible 2028 competitors with one stone by slamming a report that California, led by his arch-nemesis Gavin Newsom, used H-1B visas to hire gym teachers.

That’s just “another example of how H1B visas are used to hire foreigners when an American could easily fill the roll,” said DeSantis.

But he went full throttle in a December 2 social media post, saying simply: “The H1B visa: end it; don’t mend it.”

It was a good political move: The GOP’s MAGA base sides with DeSantis on this issue—and so did the first Trump administration.

Just before leaving office in 2021, the first Trump administration issued a report stating that H-1B visas have an “adverse effect on similarly employed U.S. workers” and exert “downward pressure on wages.”

History favors DeSantis, too. The dispute comes almost one year to the day that H-1B visas nearly tore apart the incoming Trump administration.

Trump voters were outraged when DOGE leaders Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk defended the program, which many credit with destroying the American dream. Musk even told critics to “F**K YOURSELF IN THE FACE.”

To make matters worse, President Trump added that he had “always been in favor” of H-1B visas.

Within days, Musk changed his argument and called the system “broken,” while Ramaswamy defended H-1Bs and left DOGE to run for governor of Ohio. He’s currently trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Amy Acton in the latest poll.

That isn’t the only area where DeSantis is getting the better of the Trump administration—and the second one may be the hottest issue in politics by 2028.

DeSantis has opened up an attack on President Trump’s policy on artificial intelligence, or A.I.

The topic exploded into the public over the summer, when an unnamed lawmaker added a provision to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that banned states from regulating AI for 10 years. It was so unpopular that, after enormous backlash, the Senate was forced to remove it by a 99-1 vote.

But on on December 11, President Trump signed an executive order on A.I. aimed at establishing a “national standard — not 50 discordant State ones.”

Once again, DeSantis saw the handwriting on the wall and used it to write his own ticket.

One week before the executive order, on December 4, DeSantis proposed the Florida’s A.I. Bill of Rights. The initiative would protect data privacy from Big Tech, give parents more control over their children’s A.I. use, and establish that utility companies couldn’t hike consumers’ electric bills to pay for newly built A.I. data centers.

In a press conference Tuesday, DeSantis criticized efforts aimed at “knee-capping states” that want to pass sensible A.I. regulations—and he left no doubt exactly who he blamed.

“What some people will say is, ‘Well, you can’t do anything on A.I., because that will give an advantage to China,” said DeSantis, imitating President Trump’s pronounciation of “Chy-na.”

When it’s all said and done, said DeSantis, the A.I. companies just want to sell ads to users — and “create slop” like fake songs “and things that are going to harm children,” like transgender videos. Silicon Valley companies are “doing a lot of business in and with China,” he said.

Besides, the whole thing is illegal, he stated. “An executive order can’t block the states,” said DeSantis, although he added his actions would likely be “consistent” with the administration’s goals.

“I just find the argument” that states cannot regulate AI, “quite frankly, insulting.”

Once again, GOP base voters side with DeSantis. Most Americans are concerned about online privacy, skeptical of A.I.’s commitment to protecting their children from predators, and angry about picking up the check so AI can build the data centers that will put them out of a job.

Both moves could have a big impact on the 2028 presidential election—which could conceivably come down to another face-off between Trump and DeSantis.

President Trump has repeatedly raised the possibility of running for a third term as president in 2028…before quickly saying he’s just kidding. But his closest associates, like Steve Bannon, keep pressing for Trump to mount another bid—and they have no love lost for DeSantis.

But even if the president manages to amend the Constitution (which is unlikely), will President Trump be the same, extremely popular candidate in 2028 at the age of 82?

If he doesn’t run, polls show Vice President J.D. Vance with a commanding lead in the 2028 Republican primaries. But three years is an eternity in politics—and, although Vance often has the right instincts, he will have to answer for any unpopular moves President Trump makes over the next four years. The DeSantis 2028 campaign has gotten a jumpstart by drawing attention to every single one of them.

No one should count out Governor DeSantis. He has shown impressive political skills in Florida. In fact, after his landslide reelection victory, The Horn named him our 2022 man of the year. And no one could have defeated President Trump in the 2024 primaries. He may still have an opening in 2028.

But Ron DeSantis will never succeed at the national level unless he improves his grasp of retail politics: speaking naturally, smiling comfortably, wearing regular boots, and mixing with the voters who will cast their ballot for him—or his opponents.

Whatever happens in three years, Ron DeSantis has shown he still has the political instincts to back the right issues when the Trump administration slips.

If J.D. Vance wants to win the 2028 nomination, he needs to keep pushing back against the Wall Street interests whispering in his boss’s ear and make sure President Trump listens to the American people.

About the Author

Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”