Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has emphasized the need to address inconsistencies within the Republican Party, noting that many members have promised spending cuts but haven’t delivered. He cautioned that Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s proposed “America Party” could undermine Republican candidates. DeSantis warned that such a move would ultimately benefit Democrats.
DeSantis stated, “I’ve been a big supporter of the idea of the DOGE, because the federal government’s spending way too much money. We’ve adopted that in Florida, even though we have a budget surplus and are paying down debt, and we have the second lowest spending per capita of all 50 states.”
DeSantis added, “We’re still doing it in Florida because you always wanna do better. But when Elon was in the-, at DOGE, there were grants that had been done that we rejected in Florida. We would call Elon, they would cancel it immediately.”
DeSantis praised Musk as a fiscal reformer but warned that forming a new party could fracture the GOP. He criticized Republicans who have campaigned on spending cuts but failed to act.
DeSantis said, “The problem is when you do another party, especially if you’re running on some of the issues that he talks about, you know, that would end up if he funds Senate candidates and House candidates in competitive races that would likely end up meaning the Democrats would win all the competitive Senate and House races.”
Musk’s initiative has exposed growing GOP divisions, especially after his disputes with Trump. DeSantis has cautioned that Musk’s political spending could backfire by weakening party cohesion.
DeSantis added, “I’m a Republican. I don’t want to see that happen. I think if you want to, you know, get involved and hold accountable, you know we do have a problem in the Republican Party with these D.C. congressmen. They always run saying there’s out of control spending, and they’re going to spend less, and they never do it. And so there’s a gap between the campaign rhetoric and then the performance.”
DeSantis stated, “Elon was doing DOGE, and a lot of Congress didn’t want anything to do with actually adopting the DOGE cuts, just like they haven’t wanted to adopt the Trump executive orders on immigration, and all these other things, which I think you have to adopt in law if you want them to have staying power. So I think there is a lot of frustration with the gap between the rhetoric in their district, and the performance once they get into D.C.”
Jessica Thompson covers U.S. politics & news for content partner Modern Newsstand LLC.
