DeSantis Not Backing Down Against Trump

After the 2022 election cycle was over, it was Ron DeSantis who was atop the national polling for president, not Donald Trump.

That did not last long, however, as Trump launched volley after volley of attacks against DeSantis, which immediately resulted in the polls flipping.

By the time DeSantis actually announced, his campaign was already dead, only DeSantis had not yet gotten the message

Put the Gloves On

Even though DeSantis is out of the race, Trump’s surrogates have continued to fire shots at him, only now DeSantis is firing back.

He saw the damage that Trump did to him during the election, and he appears intent on that not killing his political career.

To that point, DeSantis has started to take some shots at Trump at times when he would have previously deflected.

For instance, during a recent donor call, DeSantis killed any speculation about him being Trump’s VP, saying that Trump was using “identity politics” for his VP selection, whereas he was looking for someone who could actually step in and be president if something were to happen to him.

Rob Stutzman, a Republican adviser for Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign, has an idea why DeSantis is not backing down.

He stated, “DeSantis seems to be liberated since the campaign ended.

“Even toward the end he was a better candidate than he had been, seemingly unburdened by expectations or contorted strategies. I would think his criticisms of Trump and conservative media are sincere.”

People keep saying that DeSantis endorsed Trump, but he did not. He said he would support Trump because of a loyalty pledge he signed with the RNC (which Trump did not sign, by the way), and that was it.

I would be highly surprised if you see DeSantis out stumping for Trump, and his supporters would be severely disappointed, and they would have good reason to.

Why? Well, the shots fired by Trump surrogates have continued, and I doubt they will stop.

For instance, Trump campaign adviser, Chris LaCivita, who Trump has also recommended for a top leadership spot in the RNC, recently threatened DeSantis, stating, “Ron tucked his tail between his legs and he should have scurried off into the shadows of obscurity.”

This party is far from united, and based on the temperature on social media, DeSantis supporters are planning to vote down-ballot elections only and skip right over the presidential ticket.

I would suggest that Trump and his surrogates start to play nice with DeSantis supporters because Trump cannot afford to lose them if he wants to win this general election.

And as long as DeSantis is firing back at Trump like this, and Trump’s surrogates continue to spit venom, there will be no unity.