Ron DeSantis won't dare run into Trump 'buzzsaw' next year: Morning Joe
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visits 2019 Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium. (Shutterstock.com)
February 17, 2023
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough doesn't think Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will run for president in 2024, and he doesn't think he should.
The Republican governor has generated some excitement among donors and has polled strongly against the former president, who has already entered the race, but the "Morning Joe" host cautioned DeSantis against launching a challenge.
"Why in the world would it make sense for Ron DeSantis to run in 2024 if Donald Trump is running?" Scarborough said. "Here you have a guy who is raising hundreds of millions of dollars. He's got the stage in his state that he completely dominates. He won by a landslide in 2022 because the Democrats didn't challenge him. He now has a run of the entire state top to bottom. He could serve his second term, keep holding his press conferences, keep raising money, keep upping his game, let Donald Trump run in '24 and lose yet again, and then Joe Biden leaves and the '28 election -- I'm just speculating if people are advising him."
"Why don't you let Trump lose again, then you get out after your second term as Florida governor and you run with hundreds of millions of dollars in the account and a clear field," Scarborough added. "No one would run against that Ron DeSantis if he could somehow keep that momentum up. Some people around him have to be asking, why would you run into a buzzsaw named Donald Trump when you could have the field to yourself four years from now, after he lost again?"
READ MORE: Right-wing group's 'simply absurd' waste of donor cash ripped apart by judge
Senior political analyst John Heilemann disagreed, saying that DeSantis had momentum now, and other politicians had let their best shot at the White House pass them by, but Scarborough wasn't persuaded.
"The important sentence is if he can beat Donald Trump," Scarborough said. "I see no evidence that either he or anybody else in the Republican Party can beat Donald Trump."
Watch the video below or at this link.