Gov. Ron DeSantis
(R-FL) warned that
national security
was being undermined by woke military policies, including the
COVID-19
vaccine mandate, as he announced his “Mission First” proposal for the
Pentagon
.

“Our mantra on Jan. 20, 2025, as commander in chief will be very simple: mission first, accomplish the mission,” DeSantis told a crowd Tuesday in Columbia, South Carolina. “We’re going to come in, and we’re going to take very swift action to right the ship, restore us to where we need to be, and you know what you’ll see? You will see better retention, and you will see better recruitment.”

EXPERTS TORN OVER SUPREME COURT DIRECTION IN NEXT SECOND AMENDMENT CASE

DeSantis criticized the
Defense Department
‘s prioritization of climate policies and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs so people can be promoted
based “on merit and achievement.”

“We also have to ensure that there’s good order and discipline on military installations. Having things like drag shows on military bases should not be allowed,” the governor said. “We’re also not going to do gender ideology and transgenderism in the military. It is just not appropriate to be injecting that into our armed forces.”

“There’s got to be one standard to be able to participate in different endeavors,” DeSantis said. “If you’re going to be a
Navy SEAL
? You’ve got to go through that training. If you can’t make it, then you’re just not going to be able to do that. That’s true in aviation. It’s true in infantry. It’s true across the board. Don’t water down the standards due to political or social reasons.”

DeSantis’s policy announcement, the second he has made in an attempt to build momentum around his campaign, aims to “rip the woke out of our military and make it mission-focused once again” because
President Joe Biden
is “pursuing a social agenda” and not its core values, according to DeSantis spokesman Andrew Romeo.

“We all know our country has been declining in recent years. We see it, we feel it, and, unfortunately, not too many people are doing anything about it,” the presidential candidate said. “I think decline of this country is a choice. I think it’s a choice that we make. I believe that success is attainable. And I’m running for president not to manage the decline. I’m running for president to reverse the decline.”

DeSantis was in South Carolina on Tuesday to file paperwork for his presidential campaign, the first
2024 Republican candidate
to apply to have one’s name appear on the ballot for the fourth primary contest next year on Feb. 24.

“I have heard it on the ground in every one of my visits to South Carolina since entering this race — Joe Biden is failing the people of this state,” Florida’s governor said earlier Tuesday. “Help is on the way.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

But South Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Christale Spain panned DeSantis’s lack of “charisma” and called him a “deeply unelectable candidate with a failed economic record and extreme policy agenda.”

“Because of his failed leadership, Florida faces some of the highest costs in the nation, is one of the lowest ranking states in health care affordability, and has twice the rate of inflation than the U.S. average — and residents’ fundamental freedoms are under attack,” she said. “He may be the first to put his name on the ballot in the Palmetto State, but at the rate his campaign is going, South Carolinians will be saying ‘DeSantis, who?’ come February 2024.”