Trump Passive-Aggressively Tries to Spook DeSantis Out of 2024 Race: ‘I Can’t Imagine’ He’d Want to Run Against Me
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Former President Donald Trump has fired a shot across the bow at the man widely thought to be his biggest roadblock to securing the Republican nomination for president in 2024, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).
In an interview with the Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey published Thursday, Trump passive-aggressively warned the Florida governor not to run against him in 2024, should he decide to pursue a second term in office. The comments directed towards DeSantis came during a portion of the interview when Trump touted his strength among the GOP electorate, despite increasing evidence to the contrary.
From the report:
Other Republicans, such as [former Vice President Mike] Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, would not want to run against him in a 2024 Republican presidential primary season, [Trump] said. None of them have ruled out challenging him.
“If I ran, I can’t imagine they’d want to run. Some out of loyalty would have had a hard time running. I think that most of those people, and almost every name you mentioned, is there because of me. In some cases, because I backed them and endorsed them. You know Ron was at 3 percent, and the day I endorsed him, he won the race,” he said. Asked if he thought he “made” DeSantis, Trump said he knew he did. “As soon as I endorsed him, the race was over,” Trump claimed.
Trump acceded that he considers DeSantis a good governor, according to the Post report. He further claimed that he and DeSantis are on strong terms.
“I have a good relationship with Ron, I have a good relationship with all the names you mentioned. Would they run against me? I doubt they would run against me. I doubt it,” Trump told the Post.
CPAC’s closely-watched straw poll in late February of the 2024 Republican race showed Trump in a commanding lead with 59 percent of attendees, but DeSantis was a dominant second with 28 percent. No other Republican drew more than 2 percent support in the survey.
