Donald Trump in a furious social media tirade on Tuesday slammed Ron DeSantis over the a recent statement downplaying the former president’s 2018 endorsement.
“Wow! DeSanctimonious would have lost in a Republican Primary landslide in 2018 without my Endorsement, and then lost in the General Election without my BIG Florida Rallies (for him!),” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website.
“Now he tells Bret Baier of FoxNews that he didn’t need my help. So untruthful! Pollsters are ANGRY! Watch what we put out on TRUTH, even in his own words. Bret should have called him out on this very “tame” interview!!! MAGA WILL NEVER VOTE FOR THIS UNGRATEFUL PERSON.”
He then went on to post a trail of videos and comments showing DeSantis supporting him, as well as backing policies – such as COVID shutdowns and vaccinations – that are unpopular with his MAGA supporters.
DeSantis during a Fox News interview with Baier on Monday noted that he won decisively in 2022, when voters had a better sense of who he was than in 2018 when he beat Andrew Gillum by less than half a percentage point.
"I saw it in Florida in my re-election. You know, I won the first time by less than a percent, [the] second time by 20. Why did people vote against me in ‘18 but then voted for me in ‘22? The number one reason they gave was because of Trump, because in ‘18 they said that they were voting against Trump… voting against me to vote against Trump, even though they didn't know much about me," DeSantis said. "By ‘22, that was there."
DeSantis told Baier he believes he’d have a better chance of beating Joe Biden than Trump would.
"The polls that come out… I beat Biden in Georgia. Trump doesn't. I beat Biden soundly in Arizona. Trump doesn't. Those are just the realities," he said.
The Florida governor also told Baier that he’s a more competent leader than Trump, and he’d be better able to deliver on the promises the former president is making.
"And I also think in terms of the base, you need to have a cadre of personnel,” DeSantis said.
“If you want to slay this administrative state, you've got to be disciplined, you've got to be focused, and you've got to have people surrounding you that are going to go and support the mission. I think the former president would have [a] very difficult time getting the type of personnel to join the administration that you would need to actually bring this stuff to fruition."
