Ron DeSantis is learning how to play this game very quickly.
It is not exactly a secret that DeSantis got his campaign off to a rough start, but he is now taking advantage of what some are calling a big gaffe by Donald Trump.
Trump attacked Republican Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds for saying she wanted to stay neutral during the primary race. Now DeSantis has jumped on that to generate some headlines for his campaign.
Big Move
Trump had posted on Truth Social, going after Reynolds, stating, “I opened up the Governor position for Kim Reynolds, & when she fell behind, I ENDORSED her, did big Rallies, & she won.
“Now, she wants to remain ‘NEUTRAL.’ I don’t invite her to events,” reported PJ Media.
This is the Trump we have seen in the political world… absolute loyalty or risk the venom.
There was significant pushback against Trump for his comments, believing he went a bit overboard for someone that is merely saying she wants the voters to decide.
DeSantis needs those votes if he is going to catch Trump, so he pounced on the opportunity when asked if he would consider Reynolds as a running mate, reported NBC News.
DeSantis stated, “Of course. I mean, she’s one of the top public servants in America. I thought the attacks on her were totally, totally out of hand and totally unnecessary. We should be thanking good Republican officeholders.”
He continued, “You know, we kind of joke about the Iowa-Florida [competition] — sometimes they do things before us, sometimes we do. But honestly, I want them to do better than us because it’s healthy.
“When Republicans are doing well, I like that. I don’t get jealous of that. I want to see them do well. And so, they’ve done a great job, and I think she’s been a model public servant, and anybody who’s a Republican that’s trying to denigrate her I think is way off base on that.”
Gov. DeSantis tells @CBSNews he would “of course” consider choosing IA Gov. Kim Reynolds as his VP.
DeSantis and others defended Reynolds after Fmr. Pres. Trump called her out for not endorsing him.
DeSantis said any Republican “trying to denigrate her I think is way off base” pic.twitter.com/nCuMlJHVPt
— Musadiq Bidar (@Bidar411) July 15, 2023
The tone of that response was the complete opposite of what we would hear from Trump, and people are noticing.
In fact, a state Senator that had previously endorsed Trump pulled his endorsement over this little dustup.
Iowa State Senator Jeff Riechman (R-50th) stated, “Trump is very outspoken. We’ve come to expect that, and that’s fine when it was focused at the right people.
“And then this week, when it became focused on our governor … I felt like it was the right thing to do to look out for our governor, our home team here. Keeping that in mind, I decided to pull my endorsement for Trump.”
In the overall scheme of things, Trump can absorb the damage from this and will keep his commanding lead, but this incident did take a bite out of Trump’s lead.
This is exactly how DeSantis can get back into this race… just chip away, and pounce whenever Trump makes a misstep.
From Trump’s perspective, just stop playing these vindictive games and it is all but guaranteed that he gets the nomination.
