DeSantis says Trump attacked him before 2022 elections because ‘he cared more about himself’

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has criticized former President Donald Trump for attacking him even before they were competing against each other in 2024, saying Trump did so because he cared “more about himself.”

DeSantis and Trump are both running for president in the Republican Party’s 2024 primary race, with the former president regularly criticizing DeSantis in social media posts, referring to the Florida governor as “DeSanctimonious” three days before the 2022 Florida gubernatorial election. The Florida governor acknowledged that Trump’s actions were a part of politics but said Trump was wrong to “not saddle up and be a team player” ahead of the midterm elections.

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“So you can go and do that to other candidates, and somehow, that’s not supposed to change anything?” DeSantis asked on the PBD podcast. “The reality is he did that because he cared more about himself than he did about the greater good. The greater good was, clearly, I win reelection in Florida, we win supermajorities, and we continue to implement the agenda — that’s the greater good from a conservative perspective.”

DeSantis went on to say 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 Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo governed their states better. DeSantis said that while Trump was free to make these statements, such statements were also “false.”

Florida’s governor also responded to claims some have made that his presidential campaign was disloyal to Trump, as the former president endorsed DeSantis in the 2018 gubernatorial election. DeSantis disagreed with this assessment, stating that “the country is more important” than loyalty to Trump.

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The former president continues to lead the Republican Party’s 2024 primary race, holding 59% favorability against DeSantis’s 8%, and the Florida governor is tied in the primary with former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. Other candidates who remain in the primary include Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), business entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND).

President Joe Biden is running for reelection in 2024, setting up a potential rematch between him and Trump — if Trump is the Republican nominee. Robert Kennedy Jr., another 2024 presidential candidate, initially ran as a Democrat but became an independent candidate on Oct. 9.