‘2 most important leaders’
Already, party figures are attempting to calm matters.
“They’re the two most important leaders in the Republican Party,” said Brian Ballard, a longtime Florida lobbyist with connections to both men, predicting Trump and DeSantis “will be personal and political friends for the rest of their careers.”
Trump’s aides also have tried to tamp down questions about the former president’s frustrations, so as not to elevate DeSantis.
Still, Trump has made no secret of his preparations for a third run for the White House. And while DeSantis, who is up for reelection this year, has not declared his plans, he is widely believed to be eyeing the presidency.
Trump and his aides are mindful of Republicans’ increasingly public fatigue with the drama that trails Trump. The former president’s false claims about fraud in the 2020 election — which DeSantis has not challenged — and his role in the events leading to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol have some Republicans looking for a fresh start.
DeSantis is often the first name Republicans cite as a possible Trump-style contender not named Trump.
“DeSantis would be a formidable 2024 candidate in the Trump lane should Trump not run,” said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor. “He’s Trump but a little smarter, more disciplined and brusque without being too brusque.”
Notably, Trump, a longtime student of charisma and mass appeal, as well as an avid reader of polling, has refrained so far from publicly attacking DeSantis, who is a distant but potent second to him in polls on the 2024 GOP field.
His restraint is a break from the mockery and bullying he often uses to attack Republicans he perceives as vulnerable. Trump made no reference to the governor at a rally in Arizona on Saturday.
DeSantis has $70 million in the bank for his reelection, an account he stocked with help from the Republican rank-and-file and donor class, alike. He has raised his profile in the same spaces Trump once dominated. The governor is ubiquitous on Fox News, where he is routinely met with the sort of softballs that once arched toward Trump.