As time goes on, DeSantis has gotten sharper and sharper in his retorts to Former President Donald Trump’s attacks but has yet to go on the offensive.
DeSantis has been across the country, accepting a flurry of interviews as part of his book tour, a likely launching pad for a 2024 Presidential run. In that time, he has repeatedly been asked for his response to Trump’s regular attacks.
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On a Tuesday Evening Fox News interview, DeSantis sideswiped the former president, implying Trump may feel threatened.
“Well, look, Jesse, I mean, you know, he used to say how great of a Governor I was and then I win a big victory and all of a sudden, you know, he had different opinions and so you can take that for what it’s worth,”
Despite occasional bristling, DeSantis has been largely non-responsive to Trump’s provocations, which DeSantis framed as a strength in that interview.
“But, at the end of the day, I think one of the reasons I’ve been successful as Governor is I don’t really pay attention to a lot of the background. I mean, he’s obviously a big, big fish, but I get attacked all the time from every different angle and you either put points on the board or you don’t. And so I just focus on delivering the wins. And I think we’ve done a pretty good job of following through on our promises.”
The quip about points on the board is likely about DeSantis’s runaway election victory in the midterms and policy successes. Some critics of Trump have pointed to the poor performance of some of his endorsements in contrast.
However, despite acting unruffled, it should be noted that some reports show Trump supporters being prevented from entering a DeSantis book signing, indicating DeSantis is staying frosty with Trump and some of his supporters.
A police officer outside the Ron DeSantis book event in Leesburg, Florida was told to remove anyone wearing Trump from the line.
Police: “Anyone wearing Trump has to go right now.” pic.twitter.com/GQc5K7FxTI
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) February 28, 2023
This isn’t DeSantis’ first rebuttal, just his most pointed. In a press conference in January, the governor shrugged off Trump’s accusations that he mishandled COVID-19.
“What I would just say is this. I roll out of bed, I have people attacking me from all angles. It’s been happening for many, many years. If you take a crisis situation like COVID, the good thing is that if you’re an elected executive, you have to make all kinds of decisions. You’ve got to steer that ship. And the good thing is, the people are able to render a judgment on that, whether they re-elect you or not.”
In the same breath, he re-emphasized his numbers and argued that the people’s approval speaks for itself.
“I’m happy to say that, you know, in my case, not only did we win re-election, we won with the highest percentage of the vote that any Republican Governor candidate has in the history of the state of Florida,” DeSantis said, noting his raw vote margin “nearly doubled.vThat verdict has been rendered by the people of the state of Florida,”
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