How Ron DeSantis is ramping up attacks on Donald Trump as 2024 draws near
Brady Knox
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As Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) eyes a bid for president in 2024, he has increasingly ramped up attacks against his top potential Republican rival, former President Donald Trump.
DeSantis made some of his most overt attacks against the former president in Iowa on Saturday, honing a strategy as he is expected to throw his hat into the 2024 arena soon. His visit was assisted greatly after Trump was forced to cancel his concurrent event in Des Moines due to the threat of tornadoes, giving DeSantis an opening to impress voters in the state.
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The Florida governor refused to directly comment on Trump, instead attacking him in veiled criticisms.
“We must reject the culture of losing that has infected our party in recent years,” DeSantis said in Sioux Center, referring to Trump and GOP defeats in recent years. “If we get distracted, if we focus the election on the past or on other side issues, then I think the Democrats are going to beat us again, and I think it’ll be very difficult to recover from that defeat.”
He then turned to a favorite attack of his, touting his concrete results as a governor while dismissing the theatrics of Trump.
“Governing is not about entertaining. Governing is not about building a brand or talking on social media and virtue signaling,’” he added, alluding to Trump. “It’s ultimately about winning and producing results.”
DeSantis also visited Jethro’s BBQ Southside Saturday, a close distance away from where Trump was supposed to host his own rally, the New York Times reported.
While DeSantis has avoided naming Trump directly, his network has intensified its attacks on the former president, primarily through supporters of the Florida governor and his Super PAC, Never Back Down. The Super PAC has started to hone in a strategy of attack against Trump, portraying him as a fake conservative who’s stuck in the past.
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“Donald Trump continues to offer the same old, pathetic attacks Americans are tired of hearing,” Chris Jankowski, CEO of Never Back Down, said last week in a release obtained by Fox News. “Even worse, Trump is so afraid of a potential DeSantis challenge that he’s taking a page out of the Radical Left’s playbook and attempting to diminish the governor’s conservative success story.”
Trump has continued to widen the gap with his expected 2024 rival, with a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll giving him a 28-point lead above DeSantis.