- Many Republicans take into account Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a possible presidential candidate in 2024.
- Trump has talked extra about DeSantis than different potential GOP candidates, per NYT’s Maggie Haberman.
- The previous president believes “he made” DeSantis, Haberman advised CNN.
No different potential GOP candidate for the 2024 election is on former President Donald Trump’s thoughts than Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in keeping with New York Instances reporter Maggie Haberman.
“There is no such thing as a potential candidate within the Republican area who Trump has talked about extra to his aides than Ron DeSantis,” Haberman advised CNN in an interview on Tuesday about her new guide, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.” “It’s a fixed operating dialogue.”
CNN additionally performed a recording from considered one of three interviews Haberman performed with Trump for her guide. Within the clip, Trump credited himself for reinforcing DeSantis to Florida’s governorship after endorsing the latter in 2018.
“He got here to me, he stated, ‘I would love your endorsement,'” Trump stated within the recording. “I stated, ‘Ron, you are at 3%. You possibly can’t win.’ He stated, ‘For those who endorse me, I can.'”
Trump has lengthy claimed credit score for DeSantis’ win and even stated throughout a Newsmax interview in June that he was “very accountable” for DeSantis changing into Florida’s governor. In that interview, Trump additionally stated that he didn’t know if DeSantis meant to run for the White Home however stated he had a “good relationship with Ron.”
Nonetheless, reviews of the duo’s behind-the-scenes relationship are likely to differ from Trump’s characterization of the difficulty.
In September, two sources near Trump advised Rolling Stone that Trump was nervous about DeSantis getting consideration from a political stunt he pulled, which concerned chartering two planes to move 50 migrants to Martha’s Winery. Based on the sources, Trump was irritated about DeSantis getting credit score for the stunt and complained to aides that the Florida governor had timed the act to spice up his profile among the many Republican base.
Trump has additionally reacted negatively to the implication that DeSantis may run in opposition to him to attempt to safe the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. In July, the previous president lashed out at “Fox & Buddies” for mentioning a ballot that confirmed DeSantis forward of him, accusing the present’s hosts of going “to the darkish aspect.” In September, Trump took one other swipe at DeSantis, sharing an Insider article about his polling lead over DeSantis.
For his half, DeSantis has not publicly rebuked Trump. Nonetheless, the Florida governor has been fundraising for his warfare chest and has launched a marketing campaign to promote a gold “Florida First Fighter” card that resembles the Trump Card.
Whereas DeSantis and Trump look like the main contenders for the 2024 Republican presidential ticket, neither has made a proper declaration about getting into the race.
In July, a DeSantis consultant advised Insider that DeSantis was “centered on Florida and operating for reelection as governor this 12 months.” In the meantime, Trump’s former senior adviser Kellyanne Conway advised CBS Information on Friday that Trump “want to” announce that he’s operating for president once more after the midterms and earlier than Thanksgiving.
“I’ll let you know why he needs to run for president,” Conway stated. “Donald Trump needs his outdated job again.”
Represenatives for DeSantis and a spokesman at Trump’s post-presidential press workplace didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s requests for remark.
