Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) edged Donald Trump out in a 2024 straw poll taken at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver recently, and Mike Pence came in 10th out of a 31-person field. DeSantis polled at three percent over the twice-impeached one-term president. Nearly two dozen top Republican Party contributors and fundraisers reportedly said that the focus has shifted from Trump to former vice-president Mike Pence — and now it’s centered on DeSantis.
DeSantis is seen as a potential candidate for the GOP nomination, but he’s set for a collision course with Donald J. Trump. And DeSantis is doing well with conservatives as he runs Florida in a Trump-style fashion, but without the mean-tweets and preening around like an asshole. Vanity Fair reports that Trump isn’t a fan of the Florida Republican. In fact, he hates him.
‘In recent days, I spoke with a half dozen GOP insiders about the recent flare-ups between DeSantis’s and Trump’s camps,” Gabriel Sherman writes. “The sources agreed that DeSantis and Trump are on an inevitable collision course as the 2024 GOP field takes shape. “There’s going to be a blowup,” a prominent Republican said. “Trump fucking hates DeSantis. He just resents his popularity,” a Trump confidant told me. Asked for comment, Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington said: “Governor DeSantis has shown great respect.”’
“Part of Trump’s irritation with DeSantis is that Trump famously claims credit for anyone in his orbit who gains attention. “Trump tells people, ‘I made Ron,’” the prominent Republican said. “Trump says that about a lot of people. But in this case, it’s actually true.” According to sources, then-congressman DeSantis cultivated Trump’s support during the 2018 gubernatorial primary by hanging out at Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel. “Ron basically ran his primary campaign out of the hotel. He buttonholed Trump supporters and his friends,” the prominent Republican said,” the outlet reports.
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“DeSantis needs to walk a tightrope as he seeks to position himself for a 2024 run. According to a source, DeSantis has told donors that he won’t openly campaign in Iowa or New Hampshire before his 2022 Florida reelection campaign,” the report adds. ‘But he’s clearly in a strong position. “Heading into 2024, DeSantis is primed to push Trump off the throne,” former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg told me. “Trump surely sees this coming and will ultimately offer Governor DeSantis a joint ticket.”’
Trump is a very jealous man. It’s a narcissistic trait, after all. And although Trump hasn’t committed to running in 2024, he won’t like to see a more popular Republican clinch the GOP nomination. Trump was the least popular president in this history of polling. DeSantis is popular with Republicans, and he did prove recently that he can work with President Joe Biden without launching a nasty verbal attack.
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via White House/Flickr
