HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TND) — The 2022 midterm elections are still roughly 10 months away, but anticipation is already rising for who will announce a 2024 presidential run — with many Americans’ eyes on former President Donald Trump.
He has yet to officially announce another run; just that he’s considering it as he holds rallies nationwide, setting the field and energizing his base if he decides to take another shot at the White House. He commands a strong lead over other possible Republican candidates in hypothetical polls, many of whom have already said they won’t run if Trump does.
But, the former commander in chief is starting to turn his attention on one of his potential matchups and fellow Florida resident, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump has both directly and indirectly trashed the governor — a Republican favorite when Trump is removed from the race — twice in a week.
Trump first indirectly referred to DeSantis as “gutless” in an interview with One America News last week for not sharing if he got a COVID-19 booster shot or not.
“I watched a couple of politicians be interviewed and one of the questions was, ‘Did you get the booster?’ — because they had the vaccine — and they’re answering like — in other words, the answer is ‘yes’ but they don’t want to say it. Because they’re gutless. You gotta say it – whether you had it or not. Say it,” Trump said.
DeSantis refused to disclose whether he received the COVID-19 booster shot last month to a reporter, answering instead,
So, I've done whatever I did...the normal shot, and that at the end of the day is people's individual decisions about what they want to do," Desantis said.
The governor still encourages vaccination but has fiercely fought back against any sorts of mandates in the state.
More recent reports indicate that Trump is also slamming DeSantis privately. An anonymous source told Axios Trump has criticized DeSantis multiple times, saying he “has no personal charisma and has a dull personality.” The former president also says that DeSantis would have had no chance of becoming governor without his endorsement. DeSantis maintains that he is focused on reelection in 2022, and some speculate his refusal to announce a 2024 presidential run bothers Trump.
What’s the big deal? Why won’t he just say he’s not going to run against me?” Trump said, according to another source that told Axios.
The Florida governor has since dismissed rumors that the two are in a spat, saying the media is likely just trying to drive a wedge between them.
“I think this is what the media does. You cannot fall for the bait, you know what they’re trying to do, so just don’t take it,” DeSantis said. “Just keep on keeping on. We need everybody united for a big red wave in 2022. We’ve gotta fight the left, and not only fight, but beat the left. And that’s what we’re doing in Florida.”
A New York Times report detailed the dynamic between the two, and the earlier perception that Trump wanted to act as a kingmaker with DeSantis, who earned Trump’s endorsement when he was a little-known congressman in 2017.
“I helped Ron DeSantis at a level that nobody’s ever seen before,” Trump said in a book interview.
But, DeSantis reportedly told friends Trump shouldn’t expect him to bend the knee or try to test loyalty. He hasn’t challenged Trump’s claims about fraud in the 2020 election but has criticized Trump’s early handling of the pandemic as he called for lockdowns. DeSantis’ defiance of lockdowns and mandates garnered popularity among the Republican party.
Some analysts and donors believe DeSantis would be formidable as a 2024 candidate, as he currently sits on a $70 million war chest. Current Republican lawmakers in Washington, D.C. such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. worry Trump’s inability to let go of the 2020 election will alienate voters the GOP needs to win over in the midterms.
This concern was highlighted at Trump’s most recent rally in Arizona on Saturday. The event was his first stadium-style rally so far this year, and he passed the microphone off to Kari Lake, a candidate for governor who has threatened to jail the state’s top elections official; Mark Finchem, the new candidate for elections official who was outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 during the riot; and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., who is currently censured for posting an animated video online that showed him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and assaulting President Joe Biden. Far-right candidates with Trump endorsements could be too extreme in states moving left.
Trump also praised heavy traffic outside the venue in Arizona, saying it is evidence that the 2020 election results were fraudulent, despite those claims being proven false by top U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies, all 50 states, federal judges and state audits in Georgia and Arizona.
“A person that comes here and has crowds that go further than any eye can see — there’s nobody that can see the end of this crowd and has cars that stretch out for 25 miles,” he said. “That’s not somebody that lost an election, and now because of it, our country is being destroyed.”
But, back in December, thousands of seats in an arena in Orlando, Fla. were empty for a Trump event that also included former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. The Orlando Sentinel reported only 5,406 out of 8,700 tickets were sold.
A 2024 run from Trump won’t be announced until after the midterm elections in November. If a run is, in fact, announced, several rumored potential GOP contenders indicated they wouldn’t run, including former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Rick Scott, R-Fla, Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
Others who haven’t indicated if they will drop out following a Trump announcement include former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Tom Cotton, R-Ark.