DeSantis Announces Presidential Bid
(continued from Page 3) Beyond policy, Trump has attacked DeSantis’ character — accusing him of being “disloyal” after Trump helped DeSantis win his 2018 gubernatorial primary — and saying he “desperately needs a personality transplant and, to the best of my knowledge, they are not medically available yet.”
Trump has also veered into deeply personal attacks, suggesting that DeSantis “might face allegations from “a woman, even classmates that are ‘underage’ (or possibly a man!)”
Trump’s allied super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., has already spent millions on anti-DeSantis ads, and the group has no plans to change its strategy, given the fact that it has been treating
DeSantis like a candidate for months already.
“Ron DeSantis’ failed campaign launch is just another example that he’s not ready for this critical moment,” said spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer. “Voters don’t yet know Ron DeSantis, but they’ll find out he has a record of targeting Social Security, trying to raise taxes, and voting against border wall funding.”
So far the effort appears to have paid off. Polls suggest Trump’s support has only grown since earlier this year, while the appetite for DeSantis as an alternative has faded. DeSantis’ team largely dismisses Trump’s early polling advantage given that the Florida governor only just became an official candidate. DeSantis said Wednesday he was prepared for the onslaught he faces.
“You can call me whatever you want. Just call me a winner,” DeSantis said on Fox News. “There will be slings and arrows. I’m a big boy. I can take it.”
Republican donor Dan Eberhart, who donated millions to Trump but is now supporting DeSantis, argued that Trump’s continued attacks make clear the former president still sees DeSantis as a threat.
“Trump’s fixation with DeSantis is proof that the Florida governor is a serious contender,” he wrote in an email. “The former president spent more money attacking Gov. DeSantis before he was even a candidate than Trump did helping Republicans last cycle. Trump’s biggest fear just came true.”
Some voters, meanwhile, continue to have trouble reconciling the feud between two men who were once allies.
Wina Fernandez, who lives in Miami, said she’d prefer DeSantis and Trump run together on the same ticket, with DeSantis serving four years as vice president and then running for president in 2028.
“I would just love them as president and vice president. That would be an amazing thing. I would go out to the street and dance,” she said. But if she had to choose, she said, she would choose Trump.
“There’s a lot of drama involving Trump. However, he started this movement. He started it all,” she said. “DeSantis is young, and he still has time to work on things.”