CNN
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Donald Trump is worried.
The former president has repeatedly lashed out at Ron DeSantis after the Florida governor’s landslide re-election victory on Tuesday, making Trump nervous about the possibility of facing him in the 2024 Republican primary. It shows what is happening.
“Ron DeSanctimonias is playing a game,” Trump said in a lengthy statement released Thursday night, focusing entirely on DeSantis. I asked him if he would run if he ran for office, and he replied, “I’m just focused on running for governor and not thinking about the future.” It’s not the correct answer.”
In that same statement, Trump said he effectively made DeSantis’ political career when he endorsed a then-Rep. for governor in the 2018 election cycle. He was politically dead and lost in a landslide to Adam Putnam, a very good Agriculture Commissioner who was laden with cash and great votes,” Trump claims. did. Primary in Florida. “Ron had low approval ratings, bad polls, no money, but he said if I supported him, he could win.”
Mr. Trump seems to be paying particular attention to DeSantis these days. On the day of his election, Trump appeared to threaten the Governor of Florida. “I’m going to tell you the unflattering things about him,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “I know him better than anyone. Except maybe his wife.” .
And in the final weekend of the 2022 campaign, Trump trotted out the “Ron DeSanctimonias” nickname he used in his statements.
what is trump up to? I think two things.
1) Trump is trying to kick DeSantis out of the 2024 election campaign. As he knows all too well how miserable DeSantis will be for him if he decides to run for the White House, he is showing off a great deal of power. I want you to question whether you really want to do a race that looks a lot like it.
2) Trump has no self-control. If you’re the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, if Trump is, the smartest strategy is to ignore anyone and everyone talking about running. No need! But Trump is completely incapable of executing that political strategy. He is clearly threatened by DeSantis and cannot hide it.
DeSantis has deftly avoided any kind of interaction with Trump. Assuming both run, you have that time. But DeSantis is right to ignore Trump for the time being, bathed in the glow of his re-election landslide victory.
The impression that people are paying attention to this is that Trump is obsessed with DeSantis, but DeSantis doesn’t care much about Trump.