Former President Donald Trump recently phoned into the conservative podcast “The Water Cooler” on Monday.
Donald Trump warns Ron DeSantis
He issued a warning to his prospective presidential rival Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida:
“So now I hear he might want to run against me. So we’ll handle that the way I handle things,” Trump said in a threatening tone.
Trump also claimed credit as he has repeatedly done in the past for DeSantis having clinched the governorship in 2018, saying:
“I got him elected, pure and simple.”
DeSantis has not announced that he will run for president, but he has hinted that he might.
During a debate in October, DeSantis did not commit to serving four full years as Florida’s governor. Insider’s Kimberly Leonard also reported in November that DeSantis is releasing his first autobiography, a key indicator that he is looking toward a White House run.
DeSantis has also become a prominent frontrunner to challenge Trump for the Republican presidential ticket. In a YouGov poll of 413 Republicans three days after the 2022 midterms, 42% of the respondents said they would rather have DeSantis as the GOP’s 2024 nominee. Only 35% said they prefer Trump.
Trump also dubbed the governor “Ron DeSanctimonious” during a rally and blasted him as “average” on social media.
DeSantis, meanwhile, has avoided addressing Trump’s insults and refrained from hitting back. At a November 16 press conference, DeSantis told people to “chill out” about a possible GOP civil war between him and the former president.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1615109922403885067
