Donald Trump’s endorsement of Ron DeSantis in the 2018 Florida Gubernatorial Election is one Trump’s biggest political achievements.
But now Trump is running for re-election and DeSantis is one of Trump’s rumored challengers.
And now Donald Trump said one word about Ron DeSantis that no one saw coming.
Trump spoke to CNN on a campaign swing in South Carolina.
A new South Carolina Policy Council poll showed DeSantis leading Trump 52 to 33 percent in a hypothetical South Carolina primary match up.
CNN asked Trump about the prospect of DeSantis running for President against Trump.
Trump called the idea of DeSantis challenging him an act of “disloyalty” since Trump endorsed him in 2018 and propelled DeSantis to victory.
“So when I hear he might run, I consider that very disloyal,” Trump declared.
Trump also attacked DeSantis’s strength – DeSantis leading red state America’s opposition to Dr. Fauci’s COVID tyranny – by claiming DeSantis wanted to rewrite history over his early COVID actions as DeSantis ordered a lockdown in March 2020.
“There are Republican Governors that did not close their states,” Trump stated. “Florida was closed for a long period of time.”
“They’re trying to rewrite history,” Trump claimed.
Trump then tried to disavow the fact that his administration pushed “15 days to slow the spread” and pushed all the responsibility for the COVID lockdowns to the Governors.
“I had Governors that decided not to close a thing and that was up to them,” Trump added.
Trump then attacked DeSantis for initially promoting the COVID vaccine before shifting to question if it was necessary for everyone to get that shot saying DeSantis “changed his tune a lot.”
Last January, DeSantis admitted his biggest mistake was not speaking out louder against lockdowns.
DeSantis issued the stay at home order on the urging of President Trump and closed bars and nightclubs.
But after one month, DeSantis realized his error and lifted the lockdown by the first week of May in 2020.
By September, DeSantis ended all COVID restrictions in the state and this year touted a new law to permanently ban lockdowns and mask mandates in Florida.
In a 2021 interview with the ‘Epoch Times’, DeSantis explained that lockdowns were a failed policy that crippled the economy
“We wanted to mitigate the damage. Now, in hindsight, the 15 days to slow the spread and the 30—it didn’t work,” DeSantis said. “We shouldn’t have gone down that road.”
DeSantis told the ‘Epoch Times’ that the science was clear and all he did was follow the data.
“All I had to do was follow the data and just be willing to go forward into the teeth of the narrative and fight the media,” DeSantis added.
DeSantis said in the interview that he would rather the press attack him than someone lose their job because of a lockdown.
“As people were beating up on me, what I said was I’d rather them beat up on me than have someone lose their job. I’d rather have them beat up on me than have kids locked out of school. I’m totally willing to take whatever heat comes our way because we’re doing the right thing,” DeSantis continued.
If Ron DeSantis does enter the Presidential race – and all indications are that will happen this summer – then it will set up a confrontation between Trump and DeSantis.
And it’s clear both Trump and DeSantis will campaign on what they see as the other’s failure on COVID.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
