Ron DeSantis just keeps showing us how to handle questioners with an agenda. He's just so good at it; he's calm, doesn't get agitated or angry, just calmly and methodically takes the questioner apart. He's an up-and-comer, and Florida is lucky to have him.

On Thursday, Governor DeSantis spoke in Sarasota, announcing awards from the Florida Disaster Fund. And, as we might expect, a questioner attempted to trip up the governor with a "gotcha" on climate change. 

Ron DeSantis wasn't having any of it.

Narrative-driven reporter asks, "When will the words 'Climate Change' come out of your mouth?"@GovRonDeSantis rightly puts him in his place: "The chance of me virtue signaling for people in the media is ZERO."

Policy cannot be driven by the climate alarmists--we'd collpase. pic.twitter.com/flFV2Vxzf6

— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) October 17, 2024

The questioner's attempted "gotcha" was, "When will the words 'Climate Change' come out of your mouth?"

The chance of me virtue-signalling for people in the media is zero, so do not count on that. I don't subscribe to your religion. And it's just a tired refrain and song and dance. I get you have an agenda, I understand that, I think you should be more honest about what that would mean for people, taxing them to smithereens, stopping oil and gas, making people pay dramatically more for energy, we would collapse as a country. So, this whole idea, of climate ideology driving policy, it just factually can't work. So in Florida, our energy is gonna be affordable and reliable. That's what you're gonna do, that's the only way you can adequately respond to things like we've just seen with the storms to get people hooked back up.

This is the Way.

See Related: SEE: Ron DeSantis Drops a Reporter for Leading Question About Hurricane Milton

DeSantis Announces Consequences for Creep Who Tied Dog to Fence As Hurricane Milton Bore Down

Here is the entire presentation:

Governor DeSantis Makes Awards from the Florida Disaster Fund in Sarasota https://t.co/ussNF6zOhB

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) October 17, 2024

This is what the GOP needs more of. We have seen in recent weeks just how bad the Democrats' presidential and vice-presidential candidates are at this; in her Fox News interview with Bret Baier on Wednesday, Kamala "Queen of Word Salads" gave what was without doubt her worst performance to date. Tim "Great Walz of China" fares no better. It's hard to think of a Democrat candidate for any national office who is any good at this. The last charismatic speaker they had was Bill Clinton, and he was more of a talented bull-Schiffer than an erudite presenter of policy proposals. But Ron DeSantis, and yes, JD Vance, they just keep going from slam-dunk to slam-dunk.

Democrats have a big problem. They don't have any young up-and-comers like DeSantis and Vance. Who have they got? Pothole Pete Buttigieg, who couldn't manage a small Midwestern city like South Bend, Indiana, and who as Transportation Secretary has gone from failure to failure. The several members of the Squad look down their noses at Leon Trotsky as a flaming right-winger. Gavin Newsom topped his first career highlight of destroying San Francisco by going on to destroy California. 

That's what they have. Those people are the Democrats's up-and-comers.

I like the GOP's odds in the next few cycles.

Look, this is the time to upgrade to a VIP membership. Our new Platinum level gets you access to VIP content across all the Townhall media sites, including PJ Media, Twitchy, Hot Air, Bearing Arms, and Townhall.com as well as RedState. You'll also get access to a catalog of feature-length films, and a credit to the new Townhall store. Use promo code SAVEAMERICA for a 50% discount.