Trump campaign won’t hire DeSantis staffers: Report
Emily Jacobs
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Former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign will not hire anyone who works for Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a new report claims.
The 45th president has made the Florida governor his primary political target since emerging as the leading Trump alternative in the 2024 GOP primary race. That feud appears to have escalated to include anyone working on DeSantis’s current book tour, which has served as a de facto campaign launching pad. Sources told RealClearPolitics that Justin Caporale, who helps lead Trump’s 2024 advance team, has said that anyone who staffed the DeSantis tour was “persona non grata.”
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A “top Trump ally,” according to the report, said that the prohibition would not merely apply to junior staffers, but every person contracted to the Florida governor’s team.
“It’s a time for choosing,” the source said. “If you work for Ron DeSantis’ presidential race, you will not work for the Trump campaign or in the Trump White House.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment on the report.
DeSantis has used the premise of promoting his new book as reason to visit a number of early voting states, a common tactic for presidential hopefuls. The book, The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival, was released late last month. The biography serves as a political blueprint that DeSantis, the highest polling Republican for the party’s 2024 nomination besides Trump, has been able to promote through his nationwide book tour.
The Florida governor has remained tight-lipped about his 2024 plans and is not expected to make an announcement before the conclusion of the state’s legislative session, which ends in May. A growing chorus of DeSantis allies has said in recent weeks that the governor planned to launch his White House bid sometime this summer.
DeSantis’s rise to the top of the presidential field, and his embrace of a Trump challenge, has enraged the former president, who has begun publicly lambasting his former ally on a number of fronts. While DeSantis had refrained from responding to Trump’s new nicknames and attacks on his loyalty, House of Representatives voting record, and overall performance as governor, he has slowly started offering reactions when asked in interviews.
The Florida governor touted his “character” in comparison to Trump’s, as well as other Founding Fathers, while speaking to Piers Morgan for a Fox Nation interview last week.
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“At the end of the day as a leader,” DeSantis began after being asked about the personal conduct of leaders, “you really want to look to people like our Founding Fathers, like what type of character — it’s not saying that you don’t ever make a mistake in your personal life — but I think what type of character are you bringing?”
“So, somebody who really set the standard is George Washington because he always put the republic over his own personal interest,” he continued. “When we won the American Revolution, Washington surrendered his sword. [King] George III said he’s the greatest man in the world if he gives up power.”