According to the NY Times this week, Gov. DeSantis has issued a fiery response to Trump in private discussions with his own advisors, after reporting revealing that Trump sees DeSantis as “dull” and lacking personal charisma. Some GOP members have proposed that Governor DeSantis is uniquely positioned to challenge Trump during a 2024 primary, although polling of a tentative contest consistently reveals that Trump dominates the whole GOP field, getting a majority of support in most cases.
DeSantis has also reportedly said that Trump was “uncharacteristically out of step with some elements of his party’s base,” in what might amount to a reference to Donald Trump’s position on covid vaccines. Both DeSantis and Trump nominally support the vaccines, but Donald Trump has proven far more willing to defend the efficacy and safety of the medicine, even saying that DeSantis is “gutless” for going dark about the issue.
Trump has reportedly said DeSantis’ refusal to talk more openly about his plans to wage or not wage a 2024 presidential race, predicting that he would beat him handily if DeSantis were to try to challenge him.
“When it comes to the 2024 election, he usually delivers DeSantis a pop in the nose in that kind of conversation,” said one source who knows Trump’s views on his own state’s governor.
This comes at a time when Joe Biden is falling drastically in the polls as Americans grow tired of his mistakes on the economy. Inflation recently reached a 40 year high and more Americans are feeling the pain as they pay at the pump, in the grocery store, and at their electric provider. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has gone up in his polling against all Republicans and Democrats, beating everyone including DeSantis.
