If DeSantis is so bad, why did Trump endorse him twice?
Christopher Tremoglie
Former President Donald Trump has been relentlessly attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for months. After Trump incorrectly asserted that he would be indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last Tuesday, he increased his attacks against DeSantis.
Recently, Trump took to Truth Social to criticize DeSantis’s tenure as governor. He has slammed DeSantis on everything from crime, education, and his state’s COVID-19 response. Yet, if DeSantis is as bad as Trump claims, then why did Trump endorse him for governor — twice?
STOP WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL ENDORSEMENTS
These attacks were odd, especially given the former president’s legal trouble. Instead of worrying about a radical, left-wing district attorney, Trump turned his ire, as did many of his supporters, on DeSantis, his one-time ally and (some considered) protege. Consider Trump’s recent attack on DeSantis on Truth Social last week.
Trump ravaged DeSantis on every possible topic. He “truthed” that Florida did “worse than New York” during the height of the pandemic, an odd thing to say given Trump’s frequent criticism of New York when he was still in office. He said that “Florida ranks among the worst in the country” on education and “on crime statistics.” He mentioned that Florida was ranked “#50 in affordability and #30 in education and childcare.” He stated there was “hardly greatness there” and called him an “average governor.”
But yet he endorsed him twice.
Before Trump became threatened by DeSantis potentially facing him in the 2024 GOP Presidential Primary, he was a big fan of his. He frequently cited Florida as a positive example during the pandemic. Trump brought DeSantis to the White House to celebrate his progress and refusal to kowtow to the Left’s COVID-19 totalitarianism. Additionally, as recently as Jan. 2022, he was complimentary of DeSantis.
“No, I think he’s good, I think he’s very good,” Trump said at the time.
But now, in 2023, DeSantis could stand in the way of something Trump greatly wants — the 2024 GOP nomination. This, and only this, is the reason for his heel turn and attacks on DeSantis. Trump did the same thing to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in 2016. Everyone should know this — even his most ardent supporters, even if they refuse to admit it.
This means either that Trump is lying about DeSantis because he views him as his main political rival for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, or it’s an example, once again, of Trump’s horrific record of choosing and supporting the wrong people. So Trump is either a liar or incompetent. Neither of these reflects positively on the former president.
Granted, politics is not for the faint of heart. So such attacks are to be expected. After all, as vicious as it became between Cruz, Rubio, and Trump in 2016, the three made amends and worked together when Trump was in office. There’s no reason to expect anything differently between DeSantis and Trump in 2024.
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It is probably naive, but both candidates should announce they are on the same team and share similar goals for the country but have different visions for achieving them. They should then agree that the real dangers to the country are Biden and the Democrats and commit to a political ceasefire. Then both would ultimately agree to let the voters decide.
Regarding the 2024 election and the country’s future, either DeSantis or Trump is preferable over the current president. Ideally, both would limit the attacks on each other and focus on the actual threat — the Biden administration. Whether it’s economic policy, foreign policy, the culture war, climate change hysteria, or a weaponized bureaucracy, there are far more critical things to attack than each other.