Ron DeSantis is pushing an 'unhinged conspiracy theory' about the Federal Reserve: Rachel Maddow producer

So far, only three Republicans have officially entered the 2024 GOP presidential primary: former President Donald Trump, Nikki Haley (former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations) and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. But if Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis enters the race — which appears likely — the primary is expected to become mainly a battle between Trump and DeSantis.

The Florida governor has recently had a lot to say about the U.S. Federal Reserve. And according to Steve Benen — producer of "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC and editor of MaddowBlog on MSNBC's website — he has been pushing a bizarre Fed-related "conspiracy theory."

Benen, in a March 7 column, humorously writes, "I saw some weird guy on Twitter this week peddling an unhinged conspiracy theory about liberals secretly plotting to use the Federal Reserve and some unnamed digital currency to prevent Americans from buying firearms and gasoline. We've probably all seen assorted oddballs peddling strange ideas online, but this one was a doozy. Wait, did I say the idea came from some weird guy on Twitter? What I meant to say was that it came from the governor of Florida — who also happens to be a leading, albeit unannounced, candidate for Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination."

Washington Post opinion writer Catherine Rampell described DeSantis' views on the Fed in her April 6 column, writing that it "seems pretty bonkers for a major, supposedly mainstream politician to attack the Federal Reserve for trying to steal your guns."

Benen says of Rampell's observations, "That might sound like an exaggeration. It's not. In remarks that were televised via C-SPAN, the Floridian delivered remarks in Pennsylvania this past weekend that were so odd, I feel like they should've come with a fringe-to-English translation guide…. To the extent that such a vision can be fact-checked, let's go ahead and state for the record that while there is some discussion about the Federal Reserve creating a central bank digital currency, there is no secret leftist plot to use the Fed to control firearm and gasoline purchases."