Former President Donald Trump slammed Ron DeSantis (R) as “average” signaling that he is ready to go to war with the Florida governor for the 2024 Republican nomination for president.
In a series of posts on his Truth Social app, Trump accused DeSantis of being disloyal and referred to him again as “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
“And now, Ron DeSanctimonious is playing games! The Fake News asks him if he’s going to run if President Trump runs, and he says, ‘I’m only focused on the Governor’s race, I’m not looking into the future.’ Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s really not the right answer,” Trump wrote.
In another post Trump suggested that without his endorsement of DeSantis in the 2017 GOP gubernatorial primary, the governor would not be where he is today.
“Ron came to me in desperate shape 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. Ron had low approval, bad polls, and no money, but he said that if I would Endorse him, he could win,” Trump wrote.
Trump’s attack on DeSantis comes after he easily won reelection Tuesday night, fueling further talk of a presidential run. His win comes on a night where Republicans were disappointed as their red wave failed to materialized. Several Republicans and conservative media outlets have blamed Donald Trump for the party’s underwhelming performance.
Trump has teased a possible announcement for president next Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago. Though DeSantis has not announced he is seeking the GOP nomination for president as yet, Trump is already preparing for what will be the inevitable matchup.
He told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that if DeSantis runs, he “will tell you things about him that won’t be very flattering. I know more about him than anybody other than perhaps his wife, who is really running his campaign.”
