Elections

Trump Doesn’t Know If DeSantis Is Running In 24 – ‘I Don’t Ask Him’

Published on June 22, 2022

As the 2022 midterm elections approach, those considering running in the 2024 presidential primaries are making calls to potential donors. They are also looking at polling data, and in the GOP, deciding if running against former President Donald J. Trump is a mountain too high to climb.

As of June 22nd, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) would most likely be the only person who give “the Donald” a run for his money.

In what has raised a few eyebrows, DeSantis beat Trump by three percentage points in a straw poll of 2024 presidential candidates during the Western Conservative Summit earlier this month in Colorado. The governor received 74% approval from the attendees, compared to Trump’s 71%. The next closest potential GOP contender was Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 29%.

Desantis who is up for re-election in November has previously said he was focusing on running Florida and not seeking the presidency. “I’m not considering anything beyond doing my job. We got a lot of stuff going on in Florida. I’m going to be running for reelection next year,” DeSantis said in September 2020.

According to Politico:

‘DeSantis seems unstoppable’: Florida Dems worry they can’t beat the governor.

The Democratic primary is just four months away, but some operatives and the party faithful say they “lack confidence” that any can realistically take on DeSantis.

Mr. Trump when asked has said that he believes that if he throws in his hat, DeSantis won’t. “I do think if I run, he won’t,” Trump said in December 2021.

“I know they try and create friction. I don’t think it exists at all. It might, you know, you never know. If he wanted to run, that’s OK with me. I think we’d win by a lot. But he’s good. And he’s done a good job as governor,” Trump added.

We just learned that Trump hasn’t asked DeSantis if he’s making a presidential run in 2024.

“I don’t know if Ron is running, and I don’t ask him,” Trump told The New Yorker in an interview for an upcoming cover story; “Can Ron DeSantis Displace Donald Trump as the G.O.P.’s Combatant-in-Chief? A fervent opponent of mask mandates and “woke” ideology, the Florida governor channels the same rage as the former President, but with greater discipline,”

“It’s his prerogative. I think I would win,” Trump added.

The piece also attempts to show some friction between the two alpha males.

“The thing that grated most was that, as Trump considered running in 2024, DeSantis did not rule out a campaign of his own. The more plausible DeSantis has become as a nominee, the more people have speculated that he might decide to take on Trump,” the magazine said.

Trump told the author, Dexter Filkins, that he was very close to making a decision about whether to run.

“In nearly every poll of likely Republican contenders, Trump still has a solid advantage: DeSantis’s constituency was Trump’s first. Trump seems to want to keep it that way,” he continued. “A consultant who has worked for several Republican candidates said that the former President had talked with confidants about ways to stop DeSantis: ‘Trump World is working overtime to find ways to burn DeSantis down. They really hate him”.