Ron DeSantis gripped a baseball, checked out his 5-year-old son, Mason, and lobbed him pitch after pitch. He grinned at Mason’s hits and rolled his eyes when his personal pitches got here in too low or too excessive.
“Unhealthy pitch, buddy,” the Florida governor mentioned after one errant throw. “That one was my fault.”
It was as far-off as one might get from the drama dominating the world of politics. As former President Donald Trump was having his mug shot taken inside an Atlanta jail, DeSantis and his household went on a pilgrimage Thursday to the “Subject of Desires” film set.
The scene, with golden-tasseled rows of corn surrounding the sector and its recognizable white farm home on the close by hill, appeared an alternate actuality from the proceedings involving Trump, who is much and away the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner.
Requested by reporters what he thought of the simultaneous moments, DeSantis quipped, “Nicely, I’m glad I’m on the ‘Subject of Desires.’”
DeSantis performed within the Little League World Sequence earlier than beginning within the outfield at Yale College. He took swings of his personal and despatched some line drives into the outfield.
DeSantis’ spouse, Casey, additionally spent a while on the plate, as did 6-year-old daughter Madison. The youngest of the youngsters, 3-year-old Mamie, scampered across the baseball diamond, extra thinking about tossing infield filth than batting.
DeSantis, who battles a status for being stiff and unfriendly, approached the sector carrying a fleece marketing campaign vest and long-sleeved shirt together with his sleeves rolled up. The warmth was beginning to ease with sundown.
He clearly felt comfy with a bat in his palms, weighing and gripping the choice of Louisville Slugger bats awaiting him on the backstop. And as he readied his son to bat, he turned to his left and casually spit within the filth, as baseball gamers typically do.
Regardless of the enduring reputation of the venue, impressed by the 1989 film starring Kevin Costner, it’s not identified for producing presidents.
Throughout the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucus marketing campaign, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders performed softball on the area. Throughout the 2016 Republican marketing campaign, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz visited, like former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum did throughout the 2012 GOP marketing campaign. 4 years earlier, former New Mexico Gov. Invoice Richardson paid homage to the monument to rural life and America’s pastime.
The closest any customer has come to the White Home: Democrat John Kerry, donning a Boston Crimson Sox cap, celebrated July 4th weekend with a go to in 2004 en route to the Democratic Nationwide Conference in Boston.
Of this 12 months’s Republican contenders, solely North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has additionally made the out-of-the-way cease right here.
