‘Beat His Ass’: Republican Strategist Calls on DeSantis to Run Against Trump

Republican strategist Scott Jennings called on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to declare his candidacy for the 2024 GOP nomination to derail former President Donald Trump.

Trump declared his candidacy in November and remains the only high-profile Republican to do so.

The governor’s refusal to rule out a run has irked Trump, who has claimed DeSantis would never have been elected governor were it not for his endorsement in 2018. DeSantis coasted to reelection in November.

On Monday’s edition of The Lead on CNN, guest host Alex Marquardt quoted from a piece in The Atlantic about Republicans engaged in the “magical thinking” that Trump will naturally fade away.

“Faced with the prospect of another election cycle dominated by Trump and uncertain that he can actually be beaten in the primaries, many Republicans are quietly rooting for something to happen that will make him go away,” the article reads. “And they would strongly prefer not to make it happen themselves.”

“Scott, is hope a strategy?” Marquardt asked Jennings.

“Uh, no,” he replied. “There’s only one strategy for getting rid of Trump: it’s to beat his ass. I mean, I don’t know what else to say. Ron DeSantis is gonna have to get in this race and beat him. That’s the only way to make this go away.”

Jennings suggested that Trump and DeSantis appear to be the only two real contenders while other potential candidates are “fighting for one percent of the rest of the oxygen.”

“If Desantis wants to make a go of this, the reservoir of support exists to do it,” he continued. “The generational message exists to do it, but he’s gotta do it.”

Watch above via CNN.