Former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) met privately in Florida on Sunday morning.
The meeting between the two Republican leaders, which the Washington Examiner independently confirmed, came after months of hostile tensions. Trump and DeSantis, once allies, came to blows in the months leading up to the first 2024 Republican primary elections.
Sunday’s gathering, it appeared, was a way to settle differences and work together. That was the motivation of the people who brokered the meeting, which ended up being positive, the Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the private encounter.
During the several-hour-long meeting, DeSantis reportedly agreed to help Trump access his donor network and raise money for the presidential election, especially as President Joe Biden has raised significant sums in his pursuit of reelection.
It was mid-November 2022 when Trump announced his third campaign for the White House. It wasn’t until May 2023 that DeSantis launched his own presidential bid.
DeSantis’s presidential ambitions were speculated for months, and once his candidacy became official, Trump targeted him as his likely biggest Republican rival. While DeSantis was hardly antagonistic toward Trump, he expressed that voters wanted a new leader, drawing the ire of Trump, who similarly attacked other rivals such as former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
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The Florida governor suspended his presidential campaign in January, saying in a video statement, “It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance.” He also endorsed the former president.
However, the relationship between the two remained cold in the months after, with DeSantis neither campaigning nor directly helping Trump in his effort to get back to the Oval Office. Sunday’s meeting could represent a new chapter for the leaders.
