DeSantis Finally Mentions Trump After 2024 Launch

Topline

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis broke his silence on former President Donald Trump on Thursday, trading jabs with his former ally a day after DeSantis launched his 2024 presidential campaign sans mention of Trump, who has ruthlessly attacked him.

DeSantis made his first mention of former President Donald Trump since launching his 2024 … [+] presidential campaign on Thursday, a day after debuting his candidacy in an interview on Twitter Spaces. (Photo by CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

DeSantis suggested Trump is attacking him because he feels threatened by his candidacy, telling “Good Morning New Hampshire” radio host Jack Heath: “He understands that I’ve got a good chance to beat him, because he doesn’t criticize anybody else now.”

DeSantis also touted Florida’s shift to the right under his leadership and said of Trump’s campaign: “I think they realize I am offering folks a record of achievement that’s second to none.”

Trump, meanwhile, took a swipe at DeSantis’ glitch-plagued Twitter announcement Wednesday, which was delayed by more than 20 minutes over what Twitter owner Elon Musk blamed on a server overload, telling the New York Times from his Virginia golf course, “everybody just turned it off” after the “first half-hour,” and calling DeSantis’ launch a “disaster.”

“He’s very disloyal and he’s got no personality,” Trump said, repeating two frequent talking points about DeSantis, who Trump helped catapult to the national spotlight after endorsing him for governor in 2018.

Crucial Quote

“I mean for him to say that we’re not winning in Florida—nobody has taken a state from being a swing state four-and-a-half years ago to now being a red state in such a dramatic fashion. You can’t find an example of that in the modern history of our country,” DeSantis said.

Big Number

33. That’s the number of points Trump leads DeSantis by, according to FiveThirtyEight’s poll tracker.

Key Background

DeSantis officially entered the race Wednesday afternoon when he filed candidacy paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, ending months of anticipation as he became the sixth official GOP challenger to Trump. The filing preceded an announcement on Twitter Spaces with owner Elon Musk and tech entrepreneur David Sacks, who conducted a friendly hour-long interview with DeSantis, with Sacks lauding him for loosening Covid-19 restrictions before other states. In an embarrassing start to DeSantis’ campaign, the conversation abruptly stopped less than five minutes after it began, before DeSantis had a chance to speak, and did not resume until more than 20 minutes later, glitches Musk and Sacks blamed on a server overload as more than 500,000 Twitter users tuned into the announcement. Trump has ramped up his attacks on DeSantis in recent months ahead of his entrance into the race, coining the nickname “Ron DeSanctimonious” to refer to his former protégé, while taking credit for his political rise.

What To Watch For

DeSantis will meet with donors in Miami Thursday before a multi-state campaign tour next week, starting with an appearance in Iowa on Tuesday, followed by New Hampshire Thursday and South Carolina on Friday.