Ron DeSantis once looked like Trump's biggest threat.
Two years later, the Florida Governor is still defending his humiliating defeat.
And Ron DeSantis just admitted one ugly truth about his 2024 campaign that has everyone talking.
DeSantis Claims "No Regrets" After Burning $160 Million to Lose Every County in Iowa
Ron DeSantis continues defending the most embarrassing loss of his political career nearly two years after he withdrew from the 2024 Presidential race.
The Florida Governor spent more than $160 million combined between his campaign and Never Back Down super PAC to compete in one state and didn't win a single county.
"You know, you have no regrets in life. You just live, and you go forward," DeSantis told podcaster Julio Rosas in an interview released Tuesday.
That's easy to say when you're not the one who torched $160 million in donor cash.
DeSantis burned through money faster than anyone in modern Presidential campaign history.
By July 2023, his campaign had already laid off nearly 40 employees to stop the financial hemorrhaging.
The Never Back Down super PAC spent tens of millions on a door-knocking operation that proved worthless when DeSantis lost Iowa by 30 points.
https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/2016520647137009760?s=20
"A lot of the people that have criticized me for running privately asked me to run because they didn't think President Trump could win again," DeSantis revealed.
Translation: Republican elites wanted someone to stop Trump but didn't have the guts to say so publicly.
The Real Reason Big Donors Urged DeSantis to Run
DeSantis didn't specify which Republicans urged him to run while doubting Trump could win.
But the pattern is clear.
Rupert Murdoch's media empire spent years promoting DeSantis as the Trump alternative after January 6.
Megadonors like billionaire Robert Bigelow poured $20 million into Never Back Down, one of the largest single donations in Presidential primary history.
Ken Griffin, who had previously backed DeSantis, got cold feet after the Florida Governor signed a six-week abortion ban.
These donors viewed DeSantis as "Trump without the baggage" — someone who could execute Trump's agenda without Trump's chaos.
They got neither Trump's popularity nor his political instincts.
DeSantis tried to out-Trump Trump on culture war issues while simultaneously appealing to Never-Trump establishment Republicans.
The strategy satisfied nobody.
https://twitter.com/CryptidPolitics/status/2016533712318419329?s=20
DeSantis Touts Florida Record While Drowning in 2028 Polls
DeSantis defended his Presidential credentials by pointing to his Florida achievements.
"Nobody has been able to take an electorate that was 50/50 and turn it decisively red better than what we've done in Florida. Nobody has ever been able to neuter the left better than what we've done," he claimed during the Rosas interview.
"Think of what we've done. Teachers' unions neutered. Trial lawyer lobby neutered. Liberal professors no longer running the show at our universities," DeSantis added.
But governing Florida with Republican supermajorities isn't the same as winning a Presidential primary against Donald Trump.
Republican voters wanted Trump's personality and fighting spirit, not DeSantis' technocratic approach to dismantling leftist institutions.
The Florida Governor remained coy about 2028 during Tuesday's interview.
"There'll be a lot of different things potentially out there," DeSantis said about another White House run.
"But I'm very content here. I'm certainly not. I have my eye on nothing in particular. I am just doing my job," he claimed.
That's not what the polling shows.
Recent surveys put DeSantis at just 3% support for the 2028 Republican nomination according to Turning Point USA.
Vice President JD Vance dominates with 46% to 54% support depending on the poll.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has eclipsed DeSantis as the second choice, polling between 19% and 22%.
The Turning Point USA straw poll was brutal — Vance got 84%, Rubio got 5%, and DeSantis scraped together just 3%.
What Went Wrong for DeSantis in 2024
The DeSantis campaign collapsed for multiple reasons that had nothing to do with Trump's indictments.
Remember the Twitter Spaces disaster?
The platform crashed for 20 minutes while DeSantis tried launching his campaign.
Trump mocked his shirt collar while Biden posted a working donation link.
That's how the campaign started, and things only got worse from there.
DeSantis sat on his hands for six months after his 2022 landslide, letting Trump lock up support while he played coy about running.
The campaign hired too many inexperienced staffers who were too scared to tell DeSantis the truth.
Nobody had the guts to ask if running against Trump was even a good idea.
Never Back Down was supposed to be the secret weapon.
Instead, the super PAC became a circus of infighting and blown cash.
The CEO spent time assembling a jigsaw puzzle in the crucial days before Iowa caucuses.
DeSantis refused to attack Trump directly for months, then pivoted too late to aggressive criticism that made him look desperate.
He spent nearly all his time courting Iowa's evangelical and conservative base, only to lose every single county by massive margins.
The campaign's heavy focus on culture war messaging alienated the suburban Republicans and big donors who were most receptive to a Trump-skeptical message.
By January 2024, DeSantis called top donors to admit he saw no path to winning and suspended his campaign.
He endorsed Trump immediately to preserve any shot at 2028.
That shot looks increasingly unlikely as Vance and Rubio eclipse him in every meaningful measure.
DeSantis can claim "no regrets" all he wants.
But $160 million buys a lot of regrets when you have nothing to show for it except a distant second-place finish that crushed any remaining Presidential ambitions.
The donors who urged him to run against Trump aren't calling anymore.
They've moved on to backing Vance or staying neutral until Trump picks his successor.
DeSantis is stuck in Florida, watching his Presidential dreams die while Marco Rubio — the man he once dominated in Florida politics — becomes Trump's heir apparent instead.
That has to sting more than he's willing to admit.
Sources:
- A.G. Gancarski, "Ron DeSantis has 'no regrets' about 2024 run," Florida Politics, January 28, 2026.
- Taegan Goddard, "DeSantis Has No Regrets About Running for President," Political Wire, January 28, 2026.
- Henry J. Gomez, "Ron DeSantis shares his concerns about Trump in a private call," NBC News, February 22, 2024.
- Emily L. Mahoney and Langston Taylor, "DeSantis' campaign money was drying up," Tampa Bay Times, February 1, 2024.
- A.G. Gancarski, "Marco Rubio eclipses Ron DeSantis in 2028 prediction markets," Florida Politics, January 17, 2026.
