Donald Trump is not known for pulling punches, and his recent criticisms of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have not gone unnoticed. Between calling him “Ron DeSanctimonious” last year to more recently attacking DeSantis’s handling of COVID, Trump has been sending a very clear message to his former protégé: don’t even think about running for president in 2024.
While most polls show Trump with a clear advantage in the 2024 GOP primary, polls also show DeSantis as being the most-favored Trump alternative, and some even show him defeating the former president in some state-level matchups.
DeSantis, for his part, has kept things classy and has declined to return fire on Trump. In fact, he recently dismissed Trump’s latest criticisms when he was asked about them. “What I would just say is this: I roll out of bed. I have people attacking me from all angles,” he said.
“It’s been happening for many, many years and if you look at the good thing about it though is like if you take a crisis situation like COVID, you know, the good thing about it is when you’re an elected executive, you have to make all kinds of decisions,” DeSantis continued. “And the good thing is, is that the people are able to render a judgment on that whether they reelect you or not.”
DeSantis won reelection in November in a landslide, defeating Democrat Charlie Crist by nearly 20 points. In 2018, DeSantis barely defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum by less than 33,000 votes.
“Not only did we win reelection, we won with the highest percentage of the vote that any Republican governor candidate has in the history of the state of Florida — almost doubled the previous record, which I think was like 780,000 vote margin.”
“And so what I would just say is that verdict has been rendered by the people of the state of Florida,” he concluded.
DeSantis is reportedly “laying the groundwork for a national campaign” and getting his staff ready for his run for the White House in 2024.
via pjmedia