DeSantis jabs back at Trump: ‘His whole family moved to Florida under my governorship’

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) punched back at attacks by former President Donald Trump while in Iowa Tuesday night, drawing laughter as he pointed out that under his governorship Trump’s entire family moved to Florida.

(Video Credit: TODAY)

“He used to say how great Florida was,” DeSantis told a reporter after he gave a thunderous speech. “Hell, his whole family moved to Florida under my governorship. Are you kidding me?”

“I think our voters are looking at this and they say, yeah we appreciate what he did, but we also recognize there are a lot of voters that just aren’t gonna ever vote for him,” DeSantis told reporters following the speech. “I know people in Florida who voted against me in ’18 and for me in ‘22. They said in ‘18, ‘I thought you were too much like him and in ‘22 we realized you were your own guy, we’re gonna do it.’”

“I can count the number of Republicans in this country on my hand that would rather have lived in New York under (Democratic Gov. Andrew) Cuomo than lived in Florida in our freedom zone,” he said, referring to Trump’s recent suggestions that Florida fared worse than New York under Cuomo during the pandemic. “If we just decided the caucuses on that, I would be happy with that verdict by Iowa voters.”

“I’m going to counterpunch, I’m going to fight back,” DeSantis claimed while on the campaign trail in Iowa, clapping back at Trump’s attacks. “I do think, unfortunately, he’s decided to move left on some of these issues.”

(Video Credit: Ron DeSantis)

“Look, I’m going to respond to attacks,” the governor reiterated. “I mean, if you say Cuomo did a better job with COVID than Florida did — first of all, that’s not what he used to say. Six months ago he would have never said that, right?”

“At the end of the day, leadership is not about entertainment, it’s not about building a brand, it’s not about virtue signaling. It is about results,” DeSantis told the excited crowd gathered for his first campaign speech.

According to Fox News polling, Trump still holds a very substantial lead over DeSantis. He has slammed the popular conservative for weeks over his record in Florida. DeSantis has called the attacks “delusional.”

“He’s been attacking me by moving left,” DeSantis asserted last week, according to Fox News.

“Remember, I left that decision up to the Governors!” Trump posted on Truth Social. “For COVID Death Rates Per State, Ron, as Governor of Florida, did worse than New York.”

 

“In Education, Florida ranks among the worst in the Country, and on crime statistics, Florida ranked Third Worst in Murder, Third Worst in Rape, and Third Worst in Aggravated Assault,” the former president proclaimed. “For 2022, Jacksonville was ranked as one of the Top 25 Major Crime Cities in the Country, with Tampa and Orlando not doing much better…”

Ron DeSantis is not a serious person who can take on Joe Biden and bring about the Great American Comeback. His poorly conceived speech was light on substance and was crafted to appease establishment Never Trumpers who are looking for a swamp puppet that will do their bidding,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said, according to Fox News.

DeSantis’ speech in Iowa was his first as an actual candidate for the GOP nomination in 2024. He was on the trail there for two days as Trump also touched down Wednesday in the state to campaign at a number of events, including an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity for a town hall in Clive, Iowa. That interview is set to air on Thursday at 9 pm on Fox News.

Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles