DESANTIS FOLLOWS UP CBDC BAN WITH A BITCOIN ENDORSEMENT

The 2024 Presidential contest now has both a Democrat and Republican candidate who have explicitly endorsed Bitcoin.

In his formal announcement last week that he is running for the Republican nomination for President, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said his Presidency would embrace Bitcoin’s crypto innovations.

He contrasted his view with Biden administration anti-crypto moves:

“You have every right to do Bitcoin. The only reason these people in Washington don’t like it is because they don’t control it…I think that the current regime, clearly they have it out for Bitcoin, and if it continues for another four years, you know, they’ll probably end up killing it.”

DeSantis said he believed “central planners” who desire to more tightly control and surveil finances and social behavior of Americans, see the threat of Bitcoin, the first decentralized permissionless crypto.

Though DeSantis didn’t speak specifically about the broader crypto sector, he did recently sign legislation banning the potential use of any Federal Reserve “digital dollar” or CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) in Florida. (See “DESANTIS SIGNS LEGISLATION REJECTING CBDC USE IN FLORIDA, CITING SURVEILLANCE AND ESG CONCERNS,” 16 May 2023.)

On the Democrat side, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a more detailed and nuanced defense of Bitcoin and crypto technology in a speech to the Bitcoin 2023 Conference.

Mainstream media has tried to cast Kennedy’s challenge to Joe Biden as a non-starter. In reporting on DeSantis formally entering the Presidential race, Fortune magazine managed a dig at Kennedy:

“But as Bitcoin Miami’s embrace a week ago of kooky Democratic challenger Robert F. Kennedy Jr. showed, the community will overlook anything so long as a candidate praises crypto.”

(“Ron DeSantis goes crypto, says the Biden administration will kill Bitcoin,” 25 May 2023.)

In fact Kennedy’s challenge is gaining momentum every day, as CNN was recently forced to acknowledge. (“CNN Poll: Biden has a lead over Democratic primary challengers, but faces headwinds overall,” 25 May 2023.)

The article noted that Biden, at this early stage in the 2024 race, has only 60 percent support among Democrats. RFK Jr is already polling at 20 percent, with 8 percent backing Marianne Williamson.

The Trends Journal has covered RFK Jr’s pro-crypto stance in detail. (See “RFK JR. ENDORSES BITCOIN AS AN ESSENTIAL WAY TO PROTECT POLITICAL FREEDOMS,” 23 May 2023.)

And RFK Jr’s campaign manager, former Senator Dennis Kucinich, was a featured speaker at TJ publisher Gerald Celente’s “Make America Healthy Again” Rally in Kingston, NY.

See video from the rally, including Kucininich’s speech, here.