It’s been more than two decades since a state governor was elected to the White House, but you wouldn’t know it looking at the 2024 presidential race. Six current or former governors have entered the 2024 GOP primary so far. But no statehouse rivalry is more pronounced in US politics than the one between Florida governor and 2024 Republican candidate Ron DeSantis, and his Democratic counterpart from California, governor Gavin Newsom. The two, both seen as serious presidential prospects, if not now then someday, have been trading barbs for years, and things have only heated up as a presidential election season approaches. Most recently, Mr Newsom lashed out at Mr DeSantis this, calling him a “small, pathetic man,” after Florida officials facilitated a large group of South American migrants being dropped off without warning at a Sacramento church, a repeat of the Florida governor’s highly controversial move to do the same in Martha’s Vineyard last year. The California governor said Florida officials could face kidnapping charges. It’s far from the first time the two men – each the leader of a large, economically important state, whose policies typify each party – have locked horns. Their battles have much to say about where each party is going, and the political fate of these two men could suggest which vision of politics and leadership the American people want more. In March, during a visit to California to speak at the Reagan Presidential Library, the Florida Republican blasted Mr Newsom for following the advice of public health experts at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, accusing him of “subcontract[ing] ... leadership to health bureaucrats,” and claimed that Californians were flocking to Florida. “When the world went mad, when common sense suddenly became an uncommon virtue, Florida stood as a refuge of sanity, a citadel of freedom for people throughout the United States and indeed, throughout the world. We refused to let our state descend into some type of Faucian dystopia, where people’s rights were curtailed, and their livelihoods were destroyed. We made sure people had a right to work and we got people back to work and businesses back open,” he said. The Florida governor also said the Californian’s leadership showed how Democrats “coddle the criminals and put the rights of the criminals over the safety of the public and the rights of victims.” Mr Newsom, for his part, has made a point of showing how on issues like Covid and gun crime, California is empirically a safer place to be. "Just look at the data – California residents are safer, healthier and more prosperous than those unfortunate enough to have you as their Governor," Mr Newsom told CBS News during the Florida governor’s visit. "Oh by the way, you’re going to get smoked by Trump." Mr Newsom has made his own high-profile incursions into his rival’s state, including donating thousands to Mr DeSantis’s rivals. In April, the California Democrat met with students of Florida’s New College, a public liberal arts college that has recently become a target in Mr DeSantis’s wide-ranging campaign to bend Florida’s education system in a hyper-conservative direction by limiting access to materials concerning gender and sexuality, as well as the history of racism. “I can’t believe what you’re dealing with. It’s just an unbelievable assault,” Mr Newsom said at an appearance at a library near campus. “It’s common with everything he’s doing, bullying and intimidating vulnerable communities. Weakness, Ron DeSantis, weakness masquerading as strength across the board.” Last summer, Mr Newsom had an even bigger provocation for Mr DeSantis, using extra campaign cash to release a 30-second ad in Florida urging residents of the Sunshine State to move to California. "Freedom, it’s under attack in your state,” the spot claimed. “Republican leaders, they’re banning books, making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms, even criminalizing women and doctors," the governor said in a voiceover narration accompanying images of Mr DeSantis and former president Donald Trump. Indeed, the two states couldn’t be more different across a variety of areas, with Florida all but banning abortion, while California ceased doing business with Walgreens because the company wouldn’t sell abortion pills. In addition to a debate over their state’s respective policies, it seems a deep dislike of the other man has fueled the back-and-forth, with the Florida governor painting Mr Newsom as an out-of-touch hypocrite, while the California leader accuses the Republican of being a spiteful bigot and a “bully.” “As he was locking down his citizens, he would then go and have these extravagant dinners at the French Laundry to basically rub his citizens’ noses in the fact that he was treating them like peasants. You know in Florida we weren’t locking them down, we lifted our people up. We made sure to protect individuals’ freedoms,” Mr DeSantis said in July. That same summer, Mr Newsom flatly told an interviewer, “I don’t like DeSantis, the way he talked about Fauci,” after the Florida governor joked about throwing “that little elf” Dr Anthony Fauci into the Potomac River. “My entire life, I don’t like bullies…That’s being celebrated in American politics. DeSantis is the worst of it.” Things escalated further in September, with Mr Newsom challenging the Florida governor to a televised debate, further cementing an idea at the time that the men were running a kind of unofficial presidential campaign against each other, even though at that time Mr DeSantis hadn’t yet declared, and even though Mr Newsom would eventually endorse Joe Biden and formally swear off a primary challenge. The rivalry has extended outside of the presidential contest to the world of business. In May, the Walt Disney Company announced it was pulling out of a planned $1bn development in Florida, keeping thousands of jobs in California, as the Magic Kingdom feuded with Mr DeSantis over the state’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law and its decision to dissolve Disney’s special municipal district privileges in the state. But a political face-off between the two doesn’t seem too far away, and any contest would likely be even more intense than the shadow campaign the men have been running against each other for the previous two years. Mr Newsom has admitted a kind of grudging respect for Republicans like Mr DeSantis, who he feels have successfully convinced the country to go along with their vision on culture war issues. The California governor has argued Democrats have a serious “messaging problem.” “We allow these culture wars to take shape, and we are constantly on the back end,” Mr Newsom said. Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has called a presidential run from Newsom, whose term ends in 2027, a “no-brainer.” With Mr DeSantis badly trailing Donald Trump in the polls, it seems a Newsom-DeSantis election may not be happening just yet, but may not be too far away in the future. Read More DeSantis news – latest: Texas sheriff backs Newsom and also recommends criminal charges over migrant flights Gavin Newsom suggests kidnap charges over Ron DeSantis’s migrant flights Ron DeSantis called out for ‘ignoring’ Hollywood beach shooting: ‘He doesn’t care’

Perhaps there was a nod to Peter Schmeichel, to Edwin van der Sar, to Alex Stepney, to Manchester United’s three European Cup-winning goalkeepers. Erik ten Hag had just bought a successor, fresh from playing in a Champions League final in Istanbul and Andre Onana arrived at Old Trafford seemingly equipped with a knowledge of his new club’s history. “Manchester United has a long history of incredible goalkeepers, and I will now give everything to create my own legacy in the coming years,” the Cameroonian said. Four months later, after his second Champions League tie in Istanbul in 2023, Onana’s legacy may include torching United’s continental campaign. They are not mathematically out of the Champions League but they are reliant on favours, on two results going their way, on Bayern Munich performing sufficiently poorly to lose at Old Trafford while FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray draw with each other. If a 3-3 draw with Galatasaray was a microcosm of United’s group stage – the capacity to lose leads, to score three goals away from home without winning, the self-destructive streak and the chaotic midfield are all recurring themes – then Onana looks like being the face of failure, the major reason for a probable inability to get through a seemingly friendly pool. Galatasaray, after all, arrived at Old Trafford with two victories in their previous 25 Champions League group-stage games and won. FC Copenhagen had three victories in 21 Champions League group-stage matches before they beat United. And if Onana’s ever-decreasing band of advocates – principally a Dutchman in his fifties – can argue that half of United’s meagre tally of four points stem from his injury-time penalty save from Copenhagen’s Jordan Larsson at Old Trafford, his campaign has featured four major mistakes. There was, after United had started well in Munich, the way he let Leroy Sane’s tame shot squirm under him to set Bayern on their way to a 4-3 win. There was, with United drawing 2-2, the awful, misplaced pass that led to Casemiro’s red card and a penalty in the 3-2 loss to Galatasaray. There were the two Hakim Ziyech free kicks that Onana ought to have held comfortably but which still brought goals on Wednesday. While Ten Hag said he took responsibility for United’s European struggles, Onana should share the blame. Yet if the manager’s transfer policy, and his seeming belief anyone who has played in the Netherlands can excel for United, is backfiring, it is worth noting Ziyech, Onana’s midweek nemesis and a player who scored in the 2019 Champions League semi-finals for Ten Hag’s Ajax, was on the shortlist at Old Trafford in the summer of 2022; instead they spent £86m on the ineffective Antony from – predictably – Ajax. If Onana’s time in Amsterdam felt a huge factor in his move to Manchester, one inexplicable element is that he was available on a free transfer the previous summer. United’s rationale for overlooking him then, that Ten Hag wanted to assess David de Gea, does not fully stack up but allowed Internazionale to make a £43m profit in a year. It also means his troubles are more costly. And in his defence, Onana has the joint most clean sheets in the Premier League, the second-best save percentage; according to post-shot expected goal statistics, only Luton’s Thomas Kaminski has prevented more goals in the division. Yet no one has conceded more in the Champions League. Indeed, Onana has had to retrieve the ball from the back of his net five more times in five Champions League games for United than he did in 13 for Inter. The glaring errors are part of the problem, along with their capacity to prove decisive. Yet so is the sense that shots don’t need to go in the corner of the net to beat Onana: among some agile saves – and a terrific reflex stop early in Turkey was not his first fine intervention in a United shirt – have come a series of goals that another keeper may have prevented. It will be instructive if Ten Hag, whose stubbornness is part of his armoury, decides Altay Bayindir is that other goalkeeper. Another summer signing is yet to make his debut while Onana has played all 20 games this season. But the former Fenerbahce goalkeeper has been on United’s radar for years and is a player they believe they scouted rigorously; he acquitted himself well for Turkey last week against Wales. He may be the pragmatic choice: certainly there are questions if Onana has the conviction or presence required to reassure defenders. But Onana has a symbolic status; he is a flagship Ten Hag signing. Yet, seven years ago, a manager in Manchester brought in a goalkeeper with passing principles from his old club. He proved a liability and Pep Guardiola had to jettison Claudio Bravo. And rather than proving United’s second Schmeichel, the danger is Onana’s legacy is to be remembered as their answer to Bravo. Read More Ten Hag dismisses criticism with insistence that Man Utd team ‘in development’ Manchester United show they have two sides after European stumble – and neither is working Andre Onana – Do the numbers back up the criticism?

Selena Gomez and Nicola Peltz Beckham have a candid mental health talk

xQc accused Kai Cenat of stealing content ideas

Toyota ramped up its annual net profit forecast to $26.1 billion on Wednesday after reporting it more than doubled in the first...

'The Golden Bachelor' contestant Nancy Hulkower seeks her ideal 'rom-com' love story on the show

There will be no gold medal for the U.S. at this World Cup

Drew Barrymore has found herself in hot water for announcing the return of 'The Drew Barrymore Show', amid the ongoing strikes by SAG-AFTRA and WGA

SYDNEY Australian home prices rose for the third consecutive month in May, with the pace of growth accelerating

Céline Dion Cancels world tour amid health battle

Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez called on Joao Felix to use criticism from his former Atletico Madrid team-mates to motivate him when the teams meet...

The French government's decision to ban schoolgirls wearing abayas -- long, flowing dresses of Middle Eastern origin -- has opened a fresh debate about the country's secular laws...