Former President Donald Trump attacked Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) on Saturday night, calling on the Florida Republican to return to the Sunshine state and “do the job he was elected to do—be the governor of Florida.”
Dismissing DeSantis’s 2024 presidential bid as “a hopeless cause,” Trump said he ought to make his way home. According to the former president, the money being spent by his campaign should rather be put toward the Republican party’s effort against President Joe Biden.
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“Instead, DeSanctimonious and his establishment handlers are wasting precious resources to divide our party,” Trump told the crowd.
“Get home and take care of insurance,” he added, referencing the departure of some insurance companies from Florida as expenses associated with covering damage from natural disasters rises.
Trump claimed that DeSantis would be unable to end the war in Ukraine, but assured listeners that he would have it settled in 24 hours.
“Ron DeSanctus cannot do it, because he is owned and controlled by the globalist establishment who always put America Last,” he said. “We all saw how quickly DeSanctus reversed himself on Ukraine.”
He further pointed out his lead over DeSantis in polls of Florida.
In a recent Florida Atlantic University Political Communication and Public Opinion Research Lab/Mainstreet Research poll, 50% of registered Republicans supported Trump for the Republican nomination, while 30% opted for DeSantis.
In response to Trump’s attacks, DeSantis campaign Press Secretary Bryan Griffin said in a statement, “Governor DeSantis spent the day with Iowans and spoke to a packed house at the Tennessee GOP Statesman Dinner later that night. This was a day after he delivered the strongest interview at the Family Leadership Summit, which Donald Trump notably skipped. Ron DeSantis is campaigning to win.”
Earlier this week, Trump took a shot at the popular Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA), upset with her commitment to remaining neutral ahead of the Iowa Republican presidential caucuses in January. Afterward, he missed a crucial event among conservatives and evangelicals in the state, where all other prominent candidates were present.
In response, Iowa state Sen. Jeff Reichman (R) switched his endorsement from Trump to DeSantis, specifically citing the attack on Reynolds.
Seemingly unfazed by the move, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the Iraq war veteran “weak-kneed and lily-livered.”
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Whether the moves by Trump will have a lasting affect on Republican voters in the pivotal early caucus state remains to be seen. However, several Republican strategists have predicted that other campaigns could leverage the missteps to gain an advantage in Iowa. Others, though, aren’t sure whether Trump’s behavior in the state will sway GOP voters.
The Iowa caucuses, which are first in the nation, are currently six months away.
