Donald Trump continues to harp on what he considers to be “disloyal” behavior by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom he once called a “brilliant young leader” who “loves our country and is a true leader.”
In Trump’s much talked about interview with Fox News host Bret Baier, the former president acknowledged that the popular governor is “number two” in the Republican primary while pushing his claim that other governors in America — including disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — did a better job than “Rob DeSanctimonious” when it comes to the Covid-19 pandemic — this being one of DeSantis’s strongest calling cards.
“Why do you use that name?” Baier asked.
“I got him elected,” Trump replied. “And I thought it was very disloyal when he said ‘Yes, I’d run.’ I got him past two races.”
“I’m a big loyalist,” he added. “Some people right here in this room tell me ‘sir don’t worry about loyalty, it doesn’t mean anything in politics.’ I said, to me it does. I got the guy elected.”
Trump says DeSantis is disloyal and I think alot of Floridians would agree. pic.twitter.com/XRkTRGyoWi
— Freyja™ (@FreyjaTarte) June 20, 2023
The irony here is that Trump seems to think a past endorsement should preclude any future run as he continues an awkward, insulting line of attack on a fellow Republican often called “America’s governor” because of his popular policies. Critics argue that if Trump is confident that he’s the better candidate then he should welcome all competition — after all, steel sharpens steel.
Trump repeated his familiar line, seeming to exaggerate reality.
“I got the guy elected. He came to see me, let’s say weeping because he was dead,” he told Baier. “He was getting out of the race. He was looking for jobs already. Probably at law firms or wherever he is going to look. He was totally dead. He ran a horrible campaign…it was like a wipeout. The election was going to be very soon. I said you are dead. If George Washington endorsed you are not going to win.”
Trump said he decided to “give it a shot,” adding: “It was like a bomb went off. As soon as I endorsed him, he won the primary. It was over. He won by a landslide.”
“Three years later, they asked him are you going to run against the president? He said I have no comment. I said no comment? No comment means he’s going to run. I said this guy is going to run! And he was dead as a doorknob. I didn’t help him 90%. I helped him 100%. This guy was dead politically for him to then say I’m going to run against the guy that got me in office? I didn’t need that because I took a lot of heat — I had a lot of friends who were on the other side of that. I took big heat,” he complained.
In effect, Trump seemed to acknowledge that the support he lost to DeSantis stings.
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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