Trump savages ‘average, classless’ Desantis
Former president’s tirade seen as attempt to dissuade Republicans from standing against him in 2024
DONALD TRUMP has launched scathing attacks on his rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in an attempt to stop them standing.
Many Republicans blame Mr Trump for the party’s lacklustre performance in the US midterm elections, and Ron Desantis’s emphatic re-election as governor of Florida has positioned him to take on the former president.
Mr Trump called Mr Desantis an “average governor” who lacked “class and loyalty”, claiming credit for launching his political career. He also lashed out at Glenn Younkin, the governor of Virginia who is another potential opponent, saying his name “sounds Chinese”.
The attacks were harbingers of the verbal onslaught the governors can expect if they run against Mr Trump.
The former president also rounded on Rupert Murdoch’s media empire after critical coverage by Fox News, the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal.
Mr Trump is set to make a “big announcement” at his Mar-a-lago resort on Tuesday, but advisers have urged him to wait for the result of a runoff on Dec 6 in a Senate race in Georgia.
With the fate of the Senate still hanging in the balance, that runoff could decide which party wins the majority.
In his statement, Mr Trump, 76, said that Mr Desantis, 44, had been losing in the race for the Republican nomination ahead of the Florida governor race in 2018. He said: “Ron came to me in desperate shape in 2017 – he was politically dead, losing in a landslide to a very good agriculture commissioner, Adam Putnam, who was loaded up with cash and great poll numbers.
“Ron had low approval, bad polls and no money, but he said that if I would endorse him, he could win. I didn’t know Adam so I said, ‘Let’s give it a shot, Ron.’”
Mr Trump said he held two rallies for Mr Desantis and “fixed his campaign”, adding that he “sent in the FBI” to stop “ballot theft” in Mr Desantis’s 2018 election, saying: “I stopped his election from being stolen…”
He added: “And now, Ron Desanctimonious is playing games! Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s really not the right answer.”
Mr Trump also accused Mr Murdoch’s media outlets of being “all in for governor Ron Desanctimonious, an average REPUBLICAN governor with great public relations.”
Mr Desantis’s “numbers for a Republican, were just average – middle of the pack – including Covid,” he said. Mr Desantis said people and firms moved to Florida in the pandemic because of his anti-lockdown policies, creating an economic boom. But Mr Trump tweeted that Florida “has the advantage of SUNSHINE”, meaning “people from badly run states up North would go no matter who the governor was”.
Mr Youngkin, a businessman who won the governorship in Virginia last year, has not ruled out standing in 2024. Mr Trump tweeted: “Youngkin (now that’s an interesting take. Sounds Chinese, doesn’t it?) in Virginia couldn’t have won without me.”