Trump lunges at DeSantis after historic Florida win: 'I got 1.1 million more votes'
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- Trump took a dig at DeSantis on his social media platform, Truth Social, a day after the election.
- He said he won more votes overall than DeSantis, even though the governor's margins against his Democratic opponent were higher.
- Trump has become more vocal about a potential 2024 GOP rivalry with DeSantis.
Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his voter support on Wednesday, just one day after the Republican governor pulled off a historic, 20-percentage point victory in the state.
"Now that the election in Florida is over, and everything went quite well, shouldn't it be said that in 2020, I got 1.1 Million more votes in Florida than Ron D got this year, 5.7 Million to 4.6 Million? Just asking?" Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
Since Tuesday evening, news headlines have declared DeSantis a major victor on Election Day after once-swing-state Florida went heavily in his favor. Those same stories have in contrast noted that candidates Trump endorsed for the 2022 midterms had a poor showing on Election Day.
Tuesday's results have the political world abuzz over whether DeSantis should run for president in 2024, potentially pitting him in a run against Trump for the GOP nomination. Trump could announce a run as early as next week, and DeSantis hasn't committed to serving out all four years as governor.
The numbers Trump presented on Truth Social on Wednesday were accurate, but the margins Trump had against Biden in 2020 were far smaller than DeSantis had against his Democratic challenger, Charlie Crist. Trump won Florida in 2020 by a 3.4-percentage point margin.
When Trump endorsed DeSantis in 2018, he won by only half a percentage point. In this election, Trump did not endorse DeSantis, but the governor made huge inroads in the state. The last person to get a double-digit lead in Florida was former GOP Gov. Jeb Bush in 2002, who won by 12.8 percentage points.
Florida's map has changed in the last four years. For decades, Florida has been viewed as the largest swing state in the US — one former President Barack Obama won twice. But Republicans out-registered Democrats in the state by roughly 300,000 people, and DeSantis picked up blue counties that he lost just four years ago, including Miami-Dade. In 2016, Democrat Hillary Clinton won the county by 23 points.
DeSantis' office and the campaign did not immediately respond to inquiries seeking comment. The governor has not fired back at Trump. On Wednesday, he held a press conference announcing state preparations for Subtropical Storm Nicole, which is set to hit South Florida on Wednesday evening.
Trump, who is now a Florida resident, cast his vote for DeSantis on Tuesday but told reporters he didn't think the governor should run against him. "If he did run, I will tell you things about him that won't be very flattering," he told The Wall Street Journal. "I know more about him than anybody other than perhaps his wife, who is really running his campaign."
Trump often tells reporters he "made" the governor and on Tuesday he told NewsNation that DeSantis "could have been more gracious" about the support he once offered.
The weekend before the election Trump mocked DeSantis publicly as "Ron DeSanctimonious" and then did not invite the governor to campaign alongside him in Miami. He didn't all-out endorse the governor at the event, instead telling the crowd only to "reelect Ron DeSantis as your governor."
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/RSqyZ0x
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