Donald Trump's team has been working for weeks to roll out a series of endorsements from Florida Republicans before Gov. Ron DeSantis declares he's running.
Top aides, including Brian Jack and Susie Wiles, worked with the former president to secure the endorsements, which they initially intended to announce all at once -- likely by the end of this week -- but decided by last weekend to reveal them one at a time while DeSantis was visiting Washington, D.C., in his own effort to lock them down, reported Rolling Stone.
The plan, according to one source familiar with the matter, as to “embarrass and mindf*ck DeSantis” with the string of announcements.
Reps. Greg Steube, John Rutherford and Brian Mast each publicly backed Trump on Tuesday, while DeSantis was speaking at the Heritage Foundation, and more are planned for the next few days, according to sources with knowledge of the planning, despite efforts by the governor's advisers to ask Florida lawmakers to hold off their endorsements.
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“For the first time ever, I hear from DeSantis’s political person,” Steube told Politico, noting the governor had repeatedly snubbed him in the past.
DeSantis managed to notch one endorsement Tuesday -- his third congressional endorsement total -- from Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL), who was formerly his secretary of state, who joins Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) as his backers, and some big-money donors are alarmed.
"If we wanted a f*cking MAGA candidate, we would donate to Donald Trump," one donor told DeSantis by phone following his remarks on Ukraine, according to a source.