'Read the room': Florida Republicans beg Trump to cancel weekend rally after condo collapse disaster
On Thursday, CNN discussed a new report that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and his Republican allies are privately begging former President Donald Trump to call off a planned rally in Sarasota as officials still search for survivors of the deadly Surfside condo collapse — a report that DeSantis has denied.
"The Washington Examiner is reporting that Governor Ron DeSantis has made a direct plea to Trump's team, asking Trump's team to cancel a rally that is currently scheduled for Sarasota, Florida, on Saturday," said anchor Jake Tapper. "One Florida Republican telling the outlet that Trump and his team need to, quote, 'read the room.'"
Amanda Carpenter, a former Republican aide to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), broke down the tension in the Florida GOP.
"Does DeSantis really think he's going to be able to tell Trump no?" said Carpenter. "Part of the reason Ron DeSantis has been able to become popular and has been viewed as the potential 2024 Republican nominee is because he's never really been under Trump's thumb, right? As a Florida Republican governor, he's never had to be responsible for Trump in the way that, say, a Nikki Haley has or a Ted Cruz, where he actually has to answer for Trump's actions."
"If Trump comes into Ron DeSantis' backyard and starts going on about the rigged election and everything else when everyone else in that state is focused on the horrible disaster that unfolded in Surfside, that's not going to look good," continued Carpenter. "When do the optics get better? When it is ever going to be good for Donald Trump to keep going in there and re-litigating the stolen election and downplaying the election? I think their team is trying to test the waters and see what they can get Trump to do. But Ron DeSantis is completely boxed in. The only way he gets the 2024 nomination is if Donald Trump hands it to him on a silver platter."
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