DeSantis does not think Trump’s ‘got the same pizazz’ from 2016

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said that former President Donald Trump is not the same candidate going into 2024 as he was going into 2016, describing that Trump does not have “the same pizazz” he used to.

DeSantis and Trump are both running for president in the Republican Party’s 2024 primary race, with Trump running for president again after leaving the White House in 2021. The Florida governor noted that when Trump announced his first run for president in 2015, he was “clicking as a candidate,” but noted that Trump is not the same person he was eight years ago.

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“I don’t think he’s got the same energy,” DeSantis said in an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “I don’t think he’s got the same pizazz. 2015 and ‘16 was about ‘America First.’ I think this campaign is more about ‘Trump First,’ and it’s more about his issues and I think we got to focus on the American people’s issues.”

DeSantis noted a key issue that Trump has shifted on is abortion, as the former president has issued several statements criticizing the anti-abortion movement in the past two years. The Florida governor also stated that Trump’s flip on abortion could cost him voters in the 2024 Iowa caucuses. Earlier this year, Trump stood firm in his belief that the issue of abortion cost the Republican Party “dearly” in the 2022 midterm elections, which were held only a few months after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court.

On Monday, DeSantis claimed that Trump had attacked him ahead of the 2022 midterm elections “because he cared more about himself than he did about the greater good,” which would have been victories for the Republican Party across the nation in 2022. The Florida governor also stated that Trump had “no reason” to take “potshots” at him or at Florida itself, citing how Trump has made statements saying Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and former New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo governed their states better.

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Trump is still far ahead of DeSantis in the 2024 Republican primary race, according to numerous polls, and is also outpacing the other Republican candidates in the field, including former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND). The next Republican debate is scheduled to be held on Nov. 8 in Miami. Trump is not expected to attend the event, as he skipped the past two debates.

President Joe Biden is seeking reelection in 2024, which could potentially mark a rematch between him and Trump should the former president win the Republican primary. A Quinnipiac University national poll released on Wednesday showed that in a hypothetical matchup between Biden and Trump, 47% of voters would support Biden and 46% would support Trump, a virtual tie and within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points. However, in a general election matchup including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent candidate, Biden’s support drops to 39%, Trump’s support drops to 36%, and Kennedy receives 22% support.