Trump may pretend to like Ron DeSantis — but he's certainly not doing anything to help him get reelected: columnist

A CNN columnist made an observation that while Donald Trump claims to support Ron DeSantis, he certainly isn't doing anything to help the Florida governor win reelection.

Trump is hosting a Florida GOP rally ahead of the midterm elections to help prop up Sen. Marco Rubio, who he previously dismissed as "little Marco." But DeSantis wasn't invited.

Columnist Chris Cillizza said that it wasn't a "mistake or an oversight."

DeSantis is expected to use his reelection to propel his own presidential campaign, which would conflict with Trump's 2024 ambitions, but instead of doing his part to eliminate the competition at the state level before it gets to a presidential race, Trump is simply ignoring that DeSantis exists.

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Just this week when confronted by opponent Charlie Crist about whether he'd serve out his full four-year term, DeSantis refused to answer. The silence was assumed to be the answer, and DeSantis hasn't done anything to dispel that rumor. As with most presidential ambitions, Trump is the factor that will decide whether DeSantis runs or how he runs. Going up against Trump means attacking Trump, which would poke the bear in a way that could end his political career.

“If I faced him, I’d beat him like I would beat everyone else,” Trump claimed in an interview with Yahoo Finance last year last year. “I think most people would drop out, I think he would drop out.”

During DeSantis' 2018 gubernatorial campaign, Trump claimed that he "made" DeSantis by giving him the support necessary to win, when he otherwise would not have.

Trump has been at odds with DeSantis lately after the Florida governor did a robocall for Colorado Republican Senate candidate Joe O'Dea, who said he wouldn't support a 2024 Trump election.

"A BIG MISTAKE," Trump ranted in all caps on his personal social media site.

There's a signal in Trump's action through inaction, however. If Trump was truly ready to run in 2024, he would already be on the attack against DeSantis. It leaves questions about Trump's intentions. Former lawyer Michael Cohen argued that Trump might talk a big game, but he's not actually going to run in the next election because he makes more money not running than he does by running. The earlier DeSantis announces, the quicker Trump would be forced to announce. If he doesn't, that money could dry up.

Read the full column at CNN.com.