What did Donald Trump say about his new rival in the Republican party Ron DeSantis?
The former president is expected to announce his 2024 presidential return but is under big pressure from his Floridian rival.
After a bruising midterm election cycle for his hold on the Republican party, Donald Trump is looking to keep the baying Ron DeSantis-shaped wolves at the door. The Florida governor is looking like the most likely challenger to Trump for the Republican presidential primaries next year despite neither formally announcing their runs for the top job. Trump is widely anticipated to announce his candidacy on Tuesday after comments he made at one of the rallies in the build-up to Tuesday’s vote.
In anticipation of the threat posed by DeSantis, Trump used the last weeks of the midterm race to aim a number of barbs at his apparent competitor.
“I don’t know if he is running. I think if he runs, he could hurt himself very badly. I really believe he could hurt himself badly,” Trump said on Tuesday, “I don’t think it would be good for the party.”
“I would tell you things about him that won’t be very flattering – I know more about him than anybody – other than, perhaps, his wife.”
Trump made more comments about DeSantis on his Truth Social site about DeSantis running for Florida governor back in 2017.
“He was politically dead, losing in a landslide to a very good agriculture commissioner, Adam Putnam, who was loaded up with cash and great poll numbers,” Trump said.
“Ron had low approval, bad polls, and no money, but he said that if I would endorse him, he could win.
“When I endorsed him, it was as though, to use a bad term, a nuclear weapon went off. I also fixed his campaign, which had completely fallen apart.”
Who is Ron DeSantis?
Governor Ron DeSantis won a landslide reelection in Florida, taking 60% of the vote. In the rest of the state Republicans took 20 of 28 House seats as well as comfortable retianing Marco Rubio’s Senate seat. While Trump-backed candidates did not make as good headway as some thought they might, the big Republican success story came down in Florida. It seems that Trump’s support actively hurt the Republicans while DeSantis’ standing in the party has been greatly enhanced by his wins.
“I’m not sure [DeSantis] would want to run,” Trump said on election night.