DeSantis Sidesteps Question About 2020 Election Fraud, Doubles Down on Trump’s Defeat in Indictment of GOP ‘Culture of Losing’

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) fielded a direct question about former president Donald Trump’s claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him through voter fraud on Monday.

In a speech in Iowa over the weekend, DeSantis warned of a developing “culture of losing” in the Republican Party.

“Governing is not about entertaining. Governing is not about building a brand or talking on social media and virtue signaling,” argued DeSantis. “It’s ultimately about winning and producing results.”

‘We must reject the culture of losing that has impacted our party in recent years. The time for excuses is over,” continued DeSantis, in a not-so-subtle shot at Trump. “If we get distracted, if we focus the election on the past or on other side issues, then I think the Democrats are going to beat us again.”

On Monday, DeSantis — who is widely expected to announce a challenge to Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination in the coming weeks — faced a follow-up question on his remarks:

REPORTER: You said during an event in Iowa over the weekend that the GOP needs to reject a culture of losing. Do you acknowledge the Trump loss and there wasn’t all this fraud that he talks about?

DESANTIS: Well I look at the last however many election cycles, 2018 we lost the House, we lost the Senate. 2020, Biden becomes president- or no, excuse me, we lost the Senate in 2020, Biden becomes president and has done a huge amount of damage, very unpopular in 2022, and we were supposed to have this big red wave and other than like Florida and Iowa, I didn’t see a red wave across this country.

And so I think the party has developed a culture of losing, I think that there’s not accountability, and I think in Florida we really showed what it takes to not just win, win big, and then deliver big. And ultimately when you’re doing all this, what results are you producing for people? That’s really what matters. You can sit there and talk about cable news, social media, all of these other things that people are fixated on and for me it’s like what’s that true north? You obviously gotta win otherwise you don’t get a ticket to the dance, but once you do that, how’re you gonna be able to actually bring about big change to make people’s lives better?

DeSantis has long demurred when asked about Trump’s unfounded allegation that voter fraud cost him reelection in 2020, refusing to either endorse or denounce them.

His implicit acknowledgement of Trump’s loss, sans a takedown of Trump’s claims, reflects a need to both capitalize on Trump’s loss and to stay in the good graces of Republican primary voters who believe his rival prevailed in 2020.

Watch above via Aaron Rupar on Twitter.

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