Donald Trump Spent Weekend Rowing That ‘Wiseguy’ Ron DeSantis Won’t Kiss His Ring

Former President Donald trumpet passed a long time Weekend MLK day reflects but is not related to anything related to the citizenship symbol. Instead, he focused on a burning question, according to two people familiar with the matter:

“Is he a wise man?? ”

The “wise” person is none other than Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Sunshine State resident and Republican star who just last week took it easy. dinged part of Trump’s profile as president.

In recent weeks, if you’ve been running in the former president’s inner circle or floating out of his social or political orbit, chances are you’ve heard Trump casually insult DeSantis, even in the initial chat was absolutely nothing. do with DeSantis.

Once eager to protect his turf and keep an eye on 2024, Trump chatted with several confidants and advisers about DeSantis’ political vulnerabilities and “weaknesses,” according to two sources familiar with the matter. with the situation and another person with direct knowledge of the matter. . In several cases, the twice-impeached former president recently told associates that if they were asked about the DeSantis-Trump tensions on TV, they should refuse to confirm or deny the existence of one. a smoldering cold war between two conservative icons. .

Instead, the former president has directed, Trump’s allies should insist that the former president is the “undisputed” leader of the Republican Party and that if Trump runs to regain power next year, the former president has directed that Trump’s allies should insist that the former president be the “undisputed” leader of the Republican Party. 2024, yes. no body eles in the group who can come close to defeat him. Indeed, behind closed doors, the former president likes to say that he would easily “destroy” DeSantis in a hypothetical internal race.

Sources with direct knowledge recounted that in a private conversation earlier this month, Trump appeared “confused” as to why DeSantis didn’t simply come out and say that the 2024 GOP nomination was Trump’s. , if he wants. The source added that the former president, who is still surprisingly popular with Republican voters, eloquently asked if DeSantis “remembers[ed] what happened” in the 2016 primaries, in which Trump humiliated and hastily faced his prominent conservative opponents like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

Just last week, in a stab in DeSantis and other “liverless” Republicans got vaccinated and boosted their health but refused, as the Florida governor did, to reveal the condition, Trump told OAN, “You have to say it. , whether you have it or not, say it.”

Spokespersons for Trump and Governor DeSantis did not respond to requests for comment from The Daily Beast.

The surging hatred for DeSantis, which Trump’s lieutenant colonels have tried to keep from spreading to the public, is another example of how the former president has worked to maintain his iron grip on the country. with the Republican Party and seek to eliminate non-Trump-level counterparts from the upper echelons of the party.

New York Times report on sunday that Trump now refers to a statement from DeSantis about running for president if Trump enters the race as “miracle words” – a statement made by the Florida governor so far refuse to do. Similarly, Axios run a story this weekend about Trump being “privately deceiving Ron DeSantis as a parasite with a ‘dull personality’ and no realistic chance of defeating him.”

Many of Trump’s friends and unofficial advisers have claimed that the former president has privately assured them that he plans to run against his successor Joe Biden in the next presidential election. When pressed publicly on the subject over the past year, Trump has always stayed tough.

Recently poll from the University of Massachusetts shows that DeSantis is the second most popular potential candidate among Republicans but is the leading candidate, former President Trump, with 35 points.

However, whether he claims it or not, Trump regularly takes the temperatures of donors, conservative politicians and other influential Republican figures, to determine who is certain. will be with him before 2024 and who can be shaken. For now, he is increasingly seeing DeSantis as a major nuisance, possibly getting in the way of what he hopes is a leisurely MAGA coronation.

DeSantis, who is often the strongest pollster in the GOP surveys in 2024, when the name of the 45th president of the United States is dropped – made what Trump called the “wise” remark. come last week The “ruthless” podcast in which the Florida man tacitly ticked off Trump’s presidential record on the initial COVID-19 response.

DeSantis commented to podcast hosts that one of his top regrets leading Florida is not pushing back “much louder” at the dawn of the coronavirus pandemic against lockdown measures. — measures that then-President Trump and other senior administration officials pushed for.

In Trumpland, the comment went unnoticed when it went unnoticed, with some allies flagging it to get the former president’s attention. And while tensions have been growing between the two Republican leaders, ostensibly based in part on disagreements over COVID-era policy and the vaccine message, the pair have been closely aligned. during Trump’s presidency, including the coronavirus crisis.

Both DeSantis and Trump have spent much of the pandemic downplaying the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and mocking public health measures to mitigate it, contributing to the party’s masculinity. Republic like Demographics are hesitant about most vaccines in opinion polls.

Trump, whose administration rushed to develop a COVID-19 vaccine during “Operation Warp Speed,” repeatedly rejecting proposals by supporters and former administration officials to come out as a strong supporter of the attacks. And DeSantis took every opportunity to fulfill the role of enteral vaccines and promote monoclonal antibodies as an alternative to vaccination.

But while DeSantis is still eyeing vaccines and masks, Trump recently change his voice about vaccines and more clearly endorsed shots in the last two months — after a long time refuse to commit even just a PSA campaign and actively raise funds from “FREE” vaccine propaganda.

In interviews in recent weeks, the former president revealed that he received Vaccination against COVID-19 booster shot, say he “Very proud of the vaccine,” and “That the vaccine results are so good” —all for one Voice backlash are from crazy fans of MAGA.