According to Mediaite, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis kicked off his 2024 GOP presidential campaign with a rally and took the opportunity to criticize former President Donald Trump. During a post-speech press conference, DeSantis slammed Trump, accusing him of having “moved left” and becoming “detached from reality” in his attacks against the governor.
A reporter from NewsNation, Kellie Meyer, asked DeSantis if he would be more aggressive in campaigning against Trump. DeSantis responded by pointing out Trump’s recent criticism of Florida’s COVID-19 response, where Trump unfavorably compared DeSantis to Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York.
DeSantis expressed his surprise at Trump’s change of opinion, stating that Trump used to praise Florida and even had his entire family move to the state under DeSantis’ leadership. DeSantis found Trump’s remarks “detached from reality,” emphasizing that he had witnessed firsthand the gratitude and appreciation of people in Florida for his handling of the pandemic.
DeSantis also claimed that Trump had shifted his position on various issues during the primary campaign and had not remained loyal to the “America First principles” that he advocated. He further criticized Trump for not congratulating or praising him and other Florida Republicans for their electoral victories, instead choosing to “trash Florida.”
While DeSantis acknowledged that he would respond to attacks, he emphasized that his main focus was on President Joe Biden, whom he believed Trump was giving a “free pass” to. DeSantis stated that he would continue to defend his state, its residents, and the accomplishments they had achieved, including enacting significant conservative policies and winning a landslide election victory.
“Does this mean you’re going to be a bit more aggressive with campaigning against him?” asked Meyer.
“Look, I’m going to respond to attacks,” DeSantis answered. He brought Trump’s recent attacks on Florida’s covid response, which included Trump comparing DeSantis unfavorably to the right wing’s previous number one covid villain, ex-New York governor Andrew Cuomo.
“I mean, if if you say Cuomo did a better job with covid than Florida did — first of all, that’s not what he used to say. This is like, new, like it – six months ago he would have never said that, right.”
“He used to say how great Florida was,” DeSantis said of Trump’s change of heart. “Hell his whole family moved to Florida under my governorship. Are you kidding me?”
“When I hear something like that, it is so detached from reality
MEYER: So you talked about changing your tone a little bit with former President Trump. I don’t believe you mentioned him here by name tonight, but does this mean you’re going to be a bit more aggressive with campaigning against him?
DESANTIS: So, look, I’m going to respond to attacks. I mean, if if you say Cuomo did a better job with covid than Florida did, first of all, that’s not what he used to say. This is like new like it – six months ago he would have never said that, right. He used to say how great Florida was. Hell his whole family moved to Florida under my governorship. Are you kidding me?
So, so some of this stuff, I think, is – look, if someone is saying that I am going to I am going to counterpunch, I’m going to fight back on it. I’m going to focus my fire on Biden. And I think he should do the same. He gives Biden a free pass. I’m focusing on Biden, and that’s my focus. But. But when I hear something like that, it is so detached from reality.
You know how I know? Because I would have people come up to me in Florida during covid in tears. Hug me, perfect strangers, say, ‘Thank you, Governor. I escaped from these locked down jurisdictions. You saved my bacon. I’m here in Florida. My kids are in school.’ You name it.
This was personal to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people. And to flippantly say that you should have done New York. You know, we have no, I think, we obviously have to respond about that.
It’s also the case that, you know, we’re proud of what we’ve been able to do in our state. We won the biggest election landslide that Florida Republicans have ever won. And did he ever say anything like, atta boy, good job? No. He attacked me three days before the midterm election and then he started attacking after that. And so I’m just thinking to myself, you’re a Florida resident.
If I saw an election landslide where we swept every statewide office, super majorities in the legislature, elect 29 conservative school board members. As a Florida resident, I would be cheering for that. If you put the mission first, you would definitely be cheering for that. He hasn’t done that.
In fact, we just completed a six-month stretch where we enacted more bold policy than has ever been enacted in the history of our state. And I would put it up against any state in the history of the modern Republican Party.
We ever heard like, ‘Oh, great job, guys. You’re doing a good job.’ No, we hear him trashing Florida. So I’m going to defend my state. I’m going to defend the people of my state and I’m going to defend what we’ve been able to do to really put points on the board.
