Trump shocked some people this past weekend by taking a shot at Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. The former president previously endorsed DeSantis when he ran for the governor’s position in 2018. But in a Saturday rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Trump gave DeSantis one of his well-known nicknames.
This rally was focused on pumping up Republican candidates so that they win in these critical midterm elections. But while Trump was in the spotlight, he used the time to attack the Republican ally in Florida.
Trump began by reading polling numbers for favorite Republicans to run for the presidency in the 2024 election. When Trump got to the governor’s name, he called him “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
“Trump at 71%, Ron DeSanctimonious at 10%,” the former president told the crowd.
The former president was reading from a Premise poll of only 512 adults between Sept. 2 and Sept. 5.
Trump may have heard one of his allies, Roger Stone, use the same nickname in a recent post on Truth Social: “@realDonaldTrump’s endorsement MADE Ron DeSanctimonius Governor #ingrate,” Stone allegedly wrote.
Other polls show that there is support for both Trump and DeSantis to be the 2024 GOP nominee for president. A CPAC straw poll from February indicated that Trump was the overwhelming favorite in the 2024 Republican candidate at 55% compared to 21% for DeSantis.
A University of New Hampshire Survey Center Granite State Poll from June found that 39% of likely voters in the state favored DeSantis, compared to 37% who would vote for Trump in 2024
A Politico/Morning Consult Poll in August revealed that 5*% of registered Republicans were for Trump compared to only 16% for DeSantis.
And a USA Today/Suffolk University poll in September showed that 48% would support DeSantis and 40% were for Trump.
In June, the former president was asked about making DeSantis his running mate in 2024.
Trump replied, “Well, I get along with him. I was very responsible for his success because I endorsed him and he went up like a rocket ship.”
Speaking of 2024, Trump gave a pretty big hint over the weekend at the rally that he would make his announcement about running again very soon.
“Now, in order to make our country successful and safe and glorious, I will very, very, very probably do it again, OK? Very, very, very probably. Very, very, very probably,” Trump told the crowd. “Get ready, that’s all I’m telling you. Very soon.”
There are some reports that Trump will make his announcement about his plans for 2024 on November 14. Trump will be in Miami on November 13 to campaign for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). It was reported that DeSantis was not invited to attend the Miami rally, and the governor’s team responded by saying they would tour 13 Florida cities in the remaining days before the election, including three cities on Sunday alone.
DeSantis is not getting hit by Trump alone lately. Earlier this week, President Joe Biden referred to the Florida governor as “Donald Trump incarnate.”
The truth about the 2024 election is that it does not mean very much if you are in the lead in November of 2022. There is a lot of water yet to move under this bridge. And it’s also true that at this point people are not ready for Trump to criticize DeSantis. He is responsible for too many GOP wins over the last year.
The time to start running for president is the middle of 2023, not just before the midterms. The GOP needs to keep its eye on the big picture, right now the fate of the country is really at stake.
