DeSantis, struggling to catch Trump, flexes executive power amid conflict in Mideast

MIAMI — Five months into his presidential bid and with the Middle East in crisis, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is leaning into the very thing that put him on the national political map to begin with: his executive authority. In the weeks since Hamas militants launched a surprise incursion into Israel, DeSantis has shifted back into governor mode. He signed an executive order pouring millions of state taxpayer dollars into an effort to evacuate U.S. citizens stuck in Israel and cajoled state lawmakers into calling a special session to pass new state sanctions on Iran. The recent actions mark somet...