Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued his latest attack against former President Donald Trump regarding his campaign behavior, warning other Republican lawmakers and candidates that the GOP will lose in 2024 if it emulates his demeanor.
“These insults are so phony; these insults are juvenile,” DeSantis said during a town hall interview with WMUR’s “Conversation With the Candidate” that was aired on Friday. “That is not the way a great nation should be conducting itself. That is not the way the president of the United States should be conducting himself.”
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DeSantis’s comments come as Trump remains the front-runner in the GOP presidential primary, which the Florida governor warns is a losing strategy for not just the former president but the Republican Party as a whole.
“As Republicans, that will cause us to lose if we behave that way. There are millions of voters out there who do not like what Biden is doing to this country,” DeSantis added. “They do not like the direction the country is going in. But they aren’t going to sign up for a candidate who is behaving like that. So, let’s be better. Let’s look higher, and let’s set a good standard for our children to follow.”
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The latest comments come as DeSantis undergoes a campaign reset in an effort to close the gap between him and Trump ahead of the primary elections next year. The Florida governor has already begun downsizing his staff after fundraising reports showed financial struggles heading into the third quarter of the year.
Trump continues to lead by nearly 40 points in national polling, with DeSantis the runner-up in almost every survey. An average of roughly 53% of voters say they’d back Trump compared to just 14% for DeSantis, according to data from FiveThirtyEight.
