Paul Renner, Jay Collins bring Florida flavor to Ron DeSantis’ veterans’ coalition

The House Speaker and a Green Beret turned Senator are among the names Floridians will recognize from the newly formed Veterans for Ron DeSantis Coalition.

Palm Coast Republican Rep. Paul Renner and Tampa Sen. Jay Collins are two of the in-state names instantly recognizable to those familiar with the politics of the Sunshine State.

Via the DeSantis campaign, Collins offered a statement Wednesday.

“In today’s increasingly volatile world, America needs a strong leader who understands the gravity of this responsibility to each service-member, and this nation. As a veteran, who has served our nation in a combat zone, Ron DeSantis is ready to stand up and fight for this nation on day one,” the Senator said.

A third in-state name may not be as familiar, given that he hasn’t been elected to statewide office (yet). But Jacksonville’s Daniel Bean, the Governor’s former commander in the United States Navy and a man who has appeared in previous political ads for DeSantis, is also on board.

“Ron DeSantis was the smartest Naval Officer and one of the most selfless individuals with whom I ever served. I was his Commanding Officer in the Navy and now, I want him to be our commander-in-chief,” Bean said.

The coalition is led by a Georgia Republican Congressman, former Navy Commander Richard McCormick.

“We need a Commander-In-Chief who has worn the flag on his sleeve, and truly understands what it means to put service above self. We need a President with a track record of accomplishments, focused on tackling the challenges that plague our families and communities, and unapologetically committed to our conservative values,” McCormick said.

“I am proud to endorse Governor DeSantis and serve on his National Leadership Team because he has proven himself to be a servant leader who never backs down from a fight. We can trust Ron DeSantis to lead, succeed, and always put the American people first.”

State legislators from Indiana (the home of Mike Pence), along with early voting states Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, are on board, as is a Representative from North Carolina.

DeSantis has vowed to purge the “woke mind virus” out of the military if he wins the presidency. He would target diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, critical race theory, transgender troops and drag queens, and would use the “bully pulpit” to promote military service.

A strategy memo rolled out by the campaign over the summer, which was first reported by NBC News, reveals that Team DeSantis believes that stressing the Governor’s military service will appeal to voters.

“We’ve found that when voters hear about the Governor’s bio — principally as a dad and as a veteran — they like him and are open to hearing more about him,” the memo reads.

“This is to say nothing of his successes on parental rights, his leadership bringing Florida’s economy back during and after COVID, fighting illegal immigration and ensuring border security, that he’s not just a fighter, but most importantly a winner. A major paid media effort featuring the Governor’s bio (dad/family/veteran) will help us to convert image to ballot.”

The campaign has advertised to that end, though the spots offer what critics might call selective narration.

August’s “Service over Self” begins with footage of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America conducted by al-Qaida and aided by Saudi nationals, with a somber-voiced narrator describing how he “fought back” by joining the Navy, becoming a JAG Officer, and having “volunteered to serve in Iraq.”

The narrator asserts DeSantis embodies “service over self,” then moves into a discussion of the Governor’s three children and how that illustrates the “importance of the fights ahead” and “why we must never back down.”

Ironically, given that Iraqi nationals were not involved in the Sept. 11 attacks, the Governor’s spot omitted mention of his stint at Guantanamo Bay during the War on Terror in 2006, where he would have had the most contact with al-Qaida operatives.

Earlier this year, DeSantis forcefully denied claims from an Israeli reporter that he “attended the force-feeding” of al-Qaida captives while on site as a legal advisor.

“No, no, all that’s BS. Totally. Totally BS,” DeSantis said. “Who said that?”

The London Independent reported in March that former prisoner Mansoor Adayfi claimed DeSantis “observed his brutal force-feeding by guards during a hunger strike in 2006 — a practice the United Nations characterized as torture.”

“Do you honestly believe that’s credible? So this is 2006, I’m a junior officer. Do you honestly think that they would have remembered me from Adam? Of course not. They’re just trying to get into the news, because they know people like you will consume it, because it fits the pre-ordained narrative that you’re trying to spin,” DeSantis said in Israel.

Adayfi offered his take in Al Jazeera earlier this year, contending he indeed remembered DeSantis as a “handsome man in a white navy uniform,” even after nearly two decades.

The Governor’s story has shifted over time.

In 2018, DeSantis said that for detainees, “the jihad was still ongoing” and given the hunger strikes, “everything was legal one way or another.”

“You actually can force feed, things like that,” he told CBS back then.

DeSantis had previously addressed the allegations in a somewhat friendlier venue, flatly denying any authorization of force-feeding as “wrong.”

“I was a junior officer. I didn’t have authority to authorize anything,” DeSantis told Piers Morgan in March. “There may have been a commander that would have done feeding if someone was going to die, but that was not something that I would have even had authority to do.”

DeSantis said Guantanamo Bay was a “professionally run prison” where “some guys were in open air, playing soccer.”

“It’s a tough thing when you have a situation with terrorism and war,” said DeSantis, adding that he expected “military commissions” but they just “sputtered.”

DeSantis will roll out the coalition Thursday during an event in Anderson, South Carolina, according to his campaign.

The location doesn’t seem accidental, given his struggles in polling in the state, where he is behind not only former President Donald Trump but also former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley of late. In recent days, DeSantis and Haley have jousted over Israel strategy, and it is reasonable to expect him to press this case on Haley’s home turf, where he will spend Thursday and Friday this week, making four stops in total.