Former president Donald Trump is already after his leading competition for the Republican nomination for the White House in 2024.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to throw his hat into the ring for the GOP presidential nomination.
Trump is having none of that.
Trump is currently the only Republican who has officially put their name into the nomination consideration, announcing his third run for the Oval Office right after the midterm flop in November.
Trump isn’t the Republican’s favorite candidate at the moment. His personal, hand-picked candidates for the midterms suffered many a humiliating defeat, and the expected “Red Wave” of the midterms turned into more of a sputter.
This had led many experts to say DeSantis will end up running against him for the nomination.
In a new interview, Trump said “we’ll handle that” if DeSantis challenges him. It matters because recent polling has shown that Trump has faced a drop in base support.
Meanwhile, voters have said they’d favor DeSantis, who has yet to publicly announce his intentions for the 2024 election. DeSantis has previously refused to answer whether he will run.
Trump made the remarks on “The Water Pooler” podcast hosted by David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network.
“So, now I hear he might want to run against me. So, we’ll handle that the way I handle things,” Trump said on the podcast.
Major Republican political donors, such as Ken Griffin, the founder, and CEO of hedge fund Citadel, have also already thrown their support behind DeSantis if he decides to run. Griffin has said the GOP is ready to “move on” from Trump.
Trump also derided evangelical leaders, a crucial voting bloc in his 2016 and 2020 presidential bids, who did not endorse him after he announced his 2024 campaign, calling it “a sign of disloyalty.”
Be the first to comment