Ron DeSantis brushes off Trump attacks by saying people of Florida re-elected HIM
Ron DeSantis brushed off criticism from Donald Trump, claiming that the ‘verdict has been rendered’ that his leadership, especially regarding his COVID-19 response, is popular with the people who voted to reelect him.
The Florida governor said during a press conference on higher education Tuesday that the second he ‘rolls out of bed’ he’s receiving attacks from ‘all angles.’
Trump repeated his new nickname for DeSantis – ‘DeSanctimonious’ – in Truth Social posts on Monday after saying Saturday it would be disloyal if the GOP governor made a bid for the White House in 2024.
The former president claimed DeSantis’ team are trying to rewrite history on the coronavirus response and slammed him for keeping the state shutdown longer than other states.
‘I roll out of bed, I have people attacking from all angles,’ DeSantis said in response to the recent lines of attack from Trump as he kicks of his 2024 campaign. ‘It’s been happening for many, many years.’
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis brushed off recent criticism from Donald Trump calling him ‘disloyal’ and employing the new moniker ‘DeSanctimonious’. DeSantis said: ‘I roll out of bed, I have people attacking from all angles’
Former President Donald Trump is ramping up attacks against DeSantis as he appears increasingly nervous that the popular Republican leader will launch his own presidential campaign. Pictured: Trump speaks from South Carolina for the first day of high-profile campaigning on the 2024 trail
‘If you look at the good thing about it though, is like if you take a crisis situation like COVID, the good thing about it is when you’re an elected executive, you have to make all kinds of decisions, you’ve got to steer that ship,’ DeSantis said.
‘And the good thing is that the people are able to render a judgment on that whether they reelect you or not,’ he added.
‘So I would say, that verdict has been rendered by the people of the state of Florida,’ DeSantis concluded in noting his massive reelection victory in the 2022 midterms.
DeSantis earned the ire of Trump after his increasingly popular policies in Florida led to national notoriety and whispers that he could seek a White House bid.
The former president lambasted Florida’s governor as ‘Ron DeSanctimonious’ on Sunday night, punctuating the end of a weekend that saw Trump go in hard against his potential 2024 Republican rival.
DeSantis only earned his spot in the governor’s mansion in 2018 after Trump swooped in into the neck-and-neck race. The endorsement saw DeSantis jump in the polls by double-digits.
On Saturday, Trump branded DeSantis as ‘very disloyal’ for reportedly considering a run for the White House.
‘Ron would have not been governor if it wasn’t for me,’ Trump told reporters aboard his plane on Saturday en route to South Carolina for a campaign event.
‘So then when I hear he might run, I consider that very disloyal,’ the ex-president lamented.
Trump kicked off his 2024 bid with stops in early primary contest states of New Hampshire and South Carolina on Saturday.
As former President Donald kicked off his 2024 White House bid on Saturday, he took a jab at DeSantis by claiming it would be ‘very disloyal’ if he launched a White House primary bid against him. Trump spoke with reporter aboard his plane when campaigning on Saturday in New Hampshire and South Carolina
He also slammed DeSantis for closing Florida for a ‘long period of time’ during the COVID-19 pandemic when other Republican states did not, claiming the governor and his team are ‘trying to rewrite history.’
In a pair of posts on his Truth Social app, Trump wheeled out the ‘DeSanctimonious’ nickname twice as he accused DeSantis of being a ‘globalist’ and having ‘shut down Florida and its beaches’ during the COVID-19 pandemic.
His return to using the moniker is a sign that the ex-president is ready for all-out political warfare against his burgeoning rival. DeSantis has not formally declared a White House bid, but his refusal to rule one out in this coming election cycle has infuriated Trump.
Trump first wheeled out his ‘Ron DeSanctimonious’ line during a rally in Pennsylvania just three days before the midterm elections – and was promptly criticized by top Republicans for attacking the governor on the eve of his re-election bid.
He initially backed off, and even encouraged people to vote for DeSantis the next day, before steadily upping his attacks once again.
In the first of two posts on Sunday night, Trump issued rare praise for the media over press coverage of his first two campaign events, which took place in New Hampshire and then South Carolina on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters on his campaign plane that day, Trump issued a public warning to DeSantis that it would be ‘disloyal’ for him to run in 2024.
He wrote on Truth Social hours later, ‘The revelations about Ron DeSanctimonious doing FAR WORSE than many other Republican governors, including that he unapologetically shut down Florida and its beaches, was interesting, indeed.
Trump added, referring to himself in the third person: ‘DJT leading BIG!!!’
In the second post, made just after midnight on Monday, Trump went on a bizarre tangent against conservative group Club For Growth – and somehow, DeSantis was caught up in the mix.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ refusal to rule out a White House bid thus far has infuriated the former president, who was the first Republican to throw his hat in the ring for 2024
The influential organization has been at odds with Trump since the 2022 midterm season, when it clashed with him on two high-profile Republican Senate primaries in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
It also undercut his November 15 presidential announcement by releasing an early 2024 poll the day before that showed Trump losing to DeSantis.
‘The Club For No Growth is a GLOBALIST group that I have been taking to the cleaners for years. We worked together for a period, but they couldn’t get away from China, Europe, Asia, and part’s unknown,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social in the early hours of Monday morning.
‘They know I won’t play that game, I am America First all the way. That’s the ONLY way we will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.
‘Ron DeSanctimonious, who I made Governor in BOTH the Primary & the General, is also a Globalist, & so are his donors.’
He also tried to link DeSantis to Jeb Bush, the former Republican governor of Florida who Trump soundly defeated for the GOP nomination in 2024 – despite the former’s place in one of America’s foremost political dynasties.
Trump officially kicked off his third presidential campaign with stops in the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina on Saturday.
‘When I hear that [DeSantis] might [run] I think it’s very disloyal,’ he told CNN and Politico on his plane.
In his first of two Truth Social posts wheeling out his ‘Ron DeSanctimonious’ line, Trump accused the Florida governor of shutting down his state during the pandemic
In the second post, Trump also took aim at conservative group Club For Growth
He also once again took credit for DeSantis’ narrow 2018 victory – which later led to a landslide re-election in 2022.
‘Ron would have not been governor if it wasn’t for me,’ Trump said.
DeSantis has so far been unwilling to take on Trump in public, a strategy that’s appeared to pay off for him up until now.
He’s seen his GOP star rise throughout the Biden administration with his vocal opposition to Joe Biden’s progressive policies.
He’s also made his own name for himself with Trump’s MAGA base by wading into the culture wars with LGBTQ-targeted legislation and taking on Critical Race Theory in schools.
But through it all DeSantis has repeatedly insisted that his focus is on Florida, when asked about his 2024 ambitions. It’s done little to quell the buzz, especially among fellow Republicans.
‘Obviously, DeSantis and Trump are the two candidates, right, whether he’s declared or not,’ New Hampshire’s GOP Gov. Chris Sununu said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
