Candace Owens Slams Ron DeSantis' 'Inappropriate' World Travel

Conservative commentator Candace Owens put Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on blast over his latest international trip, calling it "inappropriate" for him to be traveling around the world while still serving in state office.

"I cannot fathom how there are people defending Ron De[S]antis' world tour," Owens tweeted on Wednesday. "He and his wife are acting like they're JFK and Jackie O. If [California Governor] Gavin Newsom was doing this we would all agree it was inappropriate. Because it is."

DeSantis is on a global trade mission to "demonstrate Florida's position as an economic leader," making stops in Japan, South Korea, Israel and the U.K. His trip around the world, which he announced last week, has been seen as an opportunity for the governor to promote his foreign policy credentials ahead of a highly anticipated bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

DeSantis, whom polls show to be the most formidable challenger to former President Donald Trump, has ramped up travel in recent weeks, making his way to various battleground states, like South Carolina and Ohio, to meet with other Republican officials.

Asked about his slip in recent 2024 polls, DeSantis dismissed the numbers from Tokyo, saying, "I'm not a candidate, so we'll see if and when that changes."

Newsweek reached out to DeSantis by email for comment.

DeSantis' travels already have faced scrutiny from Trump supporters, who have argued that he can't effectively lead Florida if he's busy elsewhere.

This month, social media users criticized DeSantis for being out of the state when Fort Lauderdale was facing unprecedented floods that forced airport and school closures. Although he returned to Florida that evening, critics accused DeSantis of being too distracted by his White House ambitions to perform the role he was just decisively re-elected to in November's midterms.

On Tuesday, Owens, who has previously said she is neither a Trump 2024 nor DeSantis 2024 fan, said that while governors were allowed to travel outside their home states, "spending more days out of your state than in it is not right."

"Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should," she wrote on Twitter.

Trump and his campaign directly blasted DeSantis for trips abroad. The former president said in a Truth Social post that his rival was traveling "in order to up his game and see if he can remove the stain from his failing campaign. Bad poll numbers!"

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung also knocked DeSantis in a Monday statement, saying the governor "wants to campaign full-time for president, during the Florida legislative session, while collecting a salary and having the taxpayers pick up the costs for his travel and security."

Amid the attacks on DeSantis' trips, both domestic and abroad, the Florida Senate's Republican majority passed a new bill last week that will soon make information about the governor's official travel a secret. The legislation also applies retroactively to all records of DeSantis' use of the state plane.

Senate Bill 1616, which GOP legislators have argued would bolster DeSantis' security, is now headed to the House, where it is expected to pass.

Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, who defended the bill as "perfectly appropriate," told Politico that such legislation was necessary since the actions and movements of elected officials are heavily monitored.

"Bad actors can find out a lot," Passidomo said. "Here we have a young governor who has young children, a young family. God forbid something would happen because information is out there."