There’s Ronald on Donald Street

GT

He’s Trump, but he’s a little smarter, more disciplined and blunt without being too much. This is how Dan Eberhart, a Republican supporter, described Al The New York Times Ron Dientis, the current governor of Florida who has emerged as a major challenger to Donald Trump for Republican leadership. Although no challenge has been officially launched, US media reports the former president’s growing annoyance with the disrespect the 43-year-old has shown. Trump allegedly told several of his associates and advisers, “I wonder why the boy didn’t say he wouldn’t race against me…”, venting what he considers a lack of gratitude.

Secondly Axios, the ex-president, in private conversations, demolishes his potential rival as someone smitten with a “monotonous figure” who has no realistic chance of defeating him in a potential showdown in 2024. DeSantis, of Italian descent because of his greatest-grandparents, is a favorite of Republican voters when organizers Polls remove Trump from the default camp of 2024. With his party stakes increasing, the governor has notably refrained from saying he would step down if Trump were to run for the Republican nomination.

Chill among the “Florida Kings” — villas located about 400 miles away — popped up in the open for a commute on a seemingly unrelated topic: infection control policies. Last week, Trump described politicians who avoid disclosing his vaccination history for fear of losing points with no faxes as “weak”: a clear reference to DeSantis who, unlike the former president, does not want to say publicly whether he got his third dose. or not . A few days later, it was the overly open Florida governor who criticized Trump’s early handling of the pandemic, saying he was sorry for not being more clear in his complaints. The New York Times notes that the swing back and forth is indicative of how far Republicans are turning to the right on pandemic policies. Trump’s defense of vaccines – also an electoral claim of his – has put him at unusual odds with hard-line elements in his party base, creating an opportunity for a rival.

The fact that an ambitious Florida governor is pressing this space is especially painful for Trump. In an interview with an upcoming book, “The Rebellion,” Trump said about the Republican Party’s shift to the right by New York Times reporter Jeremy W. . According to the former president, DeSantis would not have a “chance” to win without his help.

In 2017, in fact, it was a little-known congressman from Florida, when Trump, then-President, saw him on TV and liked him: DeSantis, an Ivy League-educated veteran and quiet advocate for the new president, was exactly what he loved. Trump is in politics. Hence the decision to support his candidacy for the position of governor and help him financially and strategically. Meanwhile, the 43-year-old appears to have learned how to live without the teacher: Everywhere on Fox News, he raised at least $70 million in the bank for reelection, a treasure owned by the Republican base and donors contributed equally.

Trump has yet to officially announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination. Over the weekend, during his first rally of the year in Arizona, he used a public word for us: “We’ll get the White House back,” he promised, amid attacks on the man who “stole” his presidency in his speech. Many potential GOP contenders for 2024 have either ruled out running if Trump – say, former UN ambassador, Nikki Haley – or said they’d be willing to support him if they run – as, say, South Dakota Governor Christie Noem and Senators Marco Rubio (Florida), Rick Scott (Florida), Tim Scott (South Carolina), and Josh Hawley (Missouri). Among the potential rivals who have not ruled out confronting him are former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Senator Ted Cruz (Texas) and Tom Cotton (Arkansas).

Trump made no mention of the governor at the Arizona rally. His attention focused on Biden, accused of insulting the country – “the leaders of Russia and China no longer respect America” ​​- and of leading an “incapable” administration. At the center of the criticism is also the Democrats’ chief medical advisor, Anthony Fauci, with whom Trump has clashed several times during his cabinet.

The billionaire did not miss the opportunity to return to give his word about the attack by his supporters on the Capitol on January 6, which killed five people. He first criticized the work of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry charged with investigating the incident, and then said that the attackers were subjected to terrible persecution, denouncing the “inhuman treatment” of the detainees. “What happens to these people in those prisons – why don’t they do it with Antifa and Black Lives Matter?” Trump said. , “Democrats celebrated their indefinite detention without trial.” The billionaire then called the November 3 election “real disobedience.” It is a crisis from which a part of the Republican electorate is starting to get tired. And to that part, which is more sober and less nostalgic, ex-boyfriend Ron winks.