Ron DeSantis and the Big Miss: The Real Estate Investor Who Runs the U.S. In 2024? Trump Revisited at a Social Media Event
In a riff on his lead over the other potential Republican 2024 contenders at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump referred to the Florida governor as “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
Trump told Yahoo Finance in October of last year that if he faced him, he would beat everyone else. “I think most people would drop out, I think he would drop out.”
It was called a “big miss” by Trump last month, when the Republican recorded a call for Joe O’Dea. O’Dea had drawn Trump’s ire by saying in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash that he would “actively” oppose the former president if he ran for the White House in 2024.
DeSantis raised more than $200 million for his reelection for governor, including $10 million in a single donation from a Las Vegas real estate developer, much more than he needed. He has at least $90 million in the bank and is still raising money. He beat his opponent by 20 points because of his enormous campaign fund.
The Reaction of Ron DeSantis to Donald Trump During the 2016 Florida Dem Demographic Reionization and his Running Electoral Campaign
In February of 2016 Trump predicted that Cruz would go down. Ted lies about so many things but he holds up the Bible, I think a man can not be.
Trump, in this formulation, is the real man of the people, who would never dare think he is better than anyone. That Trump has a large ego and frequently portrays himself as special seems to be missing from this equation.
Within Florida, there’s discussion about what to do next. Even before Election Day, there was a strong sense among those in his orbit that DeSantis would likely launch a presidential campaign regardless of whether Trump did the same. Multiple sources told CNN that DeSantis in recent months has privately suggested to donors that Trump’s divisiveness is a hindrance to enacting conservative priorities, a marked shift in how the governor has discussed his former ally.
The outcome in Florida was a bright spot for Republicans, who otherwise waited for a red wave that never arrived and watched Trump-backed candidates flounder in key battlegrounds. The GOP reaction has further fueled the idea that Ron DeSantis will run for president and take on Trump next year.
“There’s no way to deny that Donald Trump got fired,” said Georgia lieutenant governor,Geoff Duncan, in an interview with CNN This Morning on Thursday. “The search committee has brought a few names to the top of the list and Ron DeSantis is one of them. I think Ron DeSantis is being rewarded for a new thought process with Republicans and that solid leadership.”
“Build anticipation,” one longtime Republican fundraiser with knowledge of DeSantis’ operation said. “I think DeSantis controls the time frame. Everyone anticipates things and you want to move quickly, so he calls the shots now.
The intrigue surrounding a potential Trump-DeSantis showdown reached the White House on Wednesday. President Joe Biden said that it would be enjoyable to watch the two Republican challengers take on each other.
A GOP consultant said that the legislative session is going to be as boring as can be. “Whatever he proposes, they will pass it, and it will become law.”
The Republican fundraiser said that “anything ‘woke’ they can find to kill within their path, they’re going to do that” and predicted that financial institutions, in particular, would be a DeSantis target this spring.
“He wants to be kind of the Trump policy without all of the unhinged commentary and Twitter warfare and personal attacks,” says University of North Florida Political Scientist Michael Binder. DeSantis is very much interested in Trump’s supporters, Binder says, “and I think he’s found himself a very nice niche there.”
While he was in early nominating states, he stuck to mid-level battlegrounds. Stephen Stepanek, the chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, said that the state GOP has not had any contact with the governor because his political organization turned down many requests to address voters there. Despite the hype around DeSantis, Stepanek predicted it will be difficult for the Florida governor to overcome Trump in the nation’s first primary in New Hampshire. Trump’s victory in the 2016 New Hampshire primary served as the launching point to him winning the GOP nomination.
The influentialconservative leader in Iowa told CNN earlier this year that he brought up the formerWisconsin governor when he was mentioned by people.
One Republican consultant in Florida said that if you go into a presidential primary with Donald Trump, then there is another thing coming.
“I don’t know if he is running. I think if he runs, he could hurt himself very badly,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News Digital. I think he would make a mistake. I don’t think it will be good for the party and I would tell you things about him that won’t be very flattering.
Trump said that he received more votes than DeSantis in the state of Florida. Presidential races have much higher turnout than the elections and the margin of victory for Trump over Biden was 3 points.
A Conversation with J.D. DeSantis on “The Courage to Be Free”, The Early Years of Republican Governing in Florida
There are some obvious signs that he’s getting ready to run. He has an autobiography titled The Courage to Be Free due to be released early next year. The publisher’s press release says it is the story of a governor who, “has fought —and won—battle after battle, defeating not just opposition from the political left, but a barrage of hostile media coverage proclaiming the end of the world.”
At a recent news conference, DeSantis said, “We really showed, I think, how it’s done in the state of Florida,” and went on to say he received the highest percentage of the vote for a Republican governor in the history of Florida. Actually, Florida’s first Republican governor, Harrison Reed, was elected by a wider margin during the Reconstruction era. It was evident that Florida is now firmly in the Republican column after the overwhelming victory of DeSantis.
As a possible Republican presidential candidate, he has a conservative track record. He tapped into public frustrations with COVID-19 and led the fight against vaccine and mask mandates. He signed into law a restriction on how race, sexual orientation and gender identity are discussed in schools. He also approved a law banning abortions after 15 weeks.
At a news conference, he didn’t comment on the attacks but dismissed them as noise. In the last election, he ran a campaign ad that read “Art of the Deal” to his child, but now he avoids mentioning the former president.