Ron DeSantis Insists Republican Voters Won’t ‘Buy’ Trump’s Election Denialism If He Loses Iowa

Florida Governor and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis insisted that Republican voters wouldn’t “buy” former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the Iowa Caucus was stolen if Trump loses the first-in-the-nation contest next month during an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Monday.

Asked about his path to victory in the Hawkeye State by host Joe Scarborough, DeSantis argued that “here in Iowa, this is all about showing up and lining up people to caucus for you.”

“People here in Iowa and in New Hampshire, they expect you to come and answer their questions. They expect you to come and ask for their vote. And I think what Donald Trump will do, he’ll parachute in for 45 minutes, an hour, give a speech, and then just leave,” continued the candidate. “We’ve actually listened to folks, answered their questions and taken in a lot of their advice about what they want to see about the country. So I think you’re going to see that on caucus night.”

Scarborough followed up by noting that Trump might deny the results of the Caucus if DeSantis pulls off an upset.

“No, of course not. Yeah, no that’s baked in the cake. We win Iowa and then he’ll say, he’ll say something. But people aren’t going to buy that, especially here in Iowa. They take pride in having the first caucus,” answered DeSantis. “Same thing with New Hampshire.”

On the campaign trail last week, DeSantis predicted that “if Trump loses, he will say it’s stolen no matter what, absolutely. He will try to delegitimize the results.”

“He did that against Ted Cruz in 2016, and he will do that. I mean, even when like The Apprentice didn’t get an Emmy, he said. So I think I don’t think there’s been a single time he’s ever been in competition for something where he didn’t get it, where he’s accepted. I don’t think he will do that,” he added.

A CNN poll from July found that 69% of voters who consider themselves Republican, or typically lean toward supporting the GOP believe that Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in 2020 was illegitimate — despite dozens of court challenges, swing state audits, and Trump’s own DOJ and election officials saying the election was conducted fairly.

Watch above via MSNBC.

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