Florida Governor Ron DeSantis shared strong conservative opinions during his 2024 presidential campaign announcement on Twitter Spaces on Wednesday night, but he avoided butting heads with his top contender.
Many people have speculated that DeSantis must enter the verbal war with former president Donald Trump if he wants to win the election, but the Florida governor refrained from doing so Wednesday night. After a disastrous start studded with technical failures, DeSantis leaped right into laying out his expectations if he wins the 2024 presidential election. However, he trod carefully around any topics related to Trump and avoided mentioning Trump’s name, even when pressed about the former president’s decisions.
DeSantis is poised as Trump’s biggest competitor for the GOP primary, with Trump still dominating the polls. Trump, a seasoned campaign politician, hasn’t hesitated to insult DeSantis with television ads and through his social media posts, where he refers to DeSantis as “Ron DeSanctimonious” and often unleashes verbal attacks against the Florida governor.
DeSantis has resisted snapping back, and he maintained composure Wednesday night even when pressed with questions on Trump.
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At one point during the conversation, talk show host Steve Deace questioned DeSantis about his plans on addressing the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration issues. Deace criticizes Trump in his question, expressing frustration that the border wall wasn’t built as promised.
However, DeSantis phrased his response eloquently, telling Deace that he “shares that frustration” that the border wall wasn’t complete before quickly moving on to claim he doesn’t make promises lightly.
“I’ve thought it through, and I know I’m going to follow through,” DeSantis said. “This is one [issue] where there will be follow through.”
DeSantis then went on to tout his own accomplishments, such as shipping immigrants off to Martha’s Vineyard, without mentioning Trump’s name.
Meanwhile, Trump took to Truth Social in his usual fashion, slamming DeSantis throughout the Twitter Spaces events in a variety of ways, while interspersing campaign advertisements and slogans into each post.
“I’d like to personally congratulate ‘Rob’ DeSanctimonious on finally announcing that he will be entering the race for President of the United States. Hopefully he will get the full experience of being attacked by the Marxists, Communists, and Radical Left Lunatics of our Country, without which he will never know the kind of job he is doing,” Trump posted. “These Lowlifes & Misfits are far worse than the leaders of hostile foreign countries. They must be soundly defeated in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump followed up the post with a new poll showing him again dominating the other GOP contenders, including DeSantis. The poll, created by Clarity Campaign Labs, showed Trump had a 56-point lead over DeSantis.
“DeSanctimonious raised much of his money during his run for Governor, which in theory cannot be used for his current “escapade,” and before his poll numbers tanked – and wow(!) did they tank!” he posted shortly after.