Edited By: Shankhyaneel Sarkar
Last Updated: January 30, 2023, 17:26 IST
Washington, United States
Trump has accused Ron DeSantis, Florida governor, of changing his stance in a bid to woo voters away from the former president who has announced his 2024 bid for US president (Image: Reuters)
Donald Trump said Ron DeSantis would not have been elected as Florida governor if it was not for him and his endorsement in 2018
Former US president Donald Trump on Sunday criticized Florida governor Ron DeSantis as he began his campaign for 2024 US Presidential Elections. Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, is being touted as a potential candidate from the Republican Party for the 2024 Presidential Elections.
Trump called the Florida governor ‘disloyal’ and said he was trying to ‘rewrite history’, criticizing Florida governor’s management of Covid and claiming that DeSantis took the safe route and shut down beaches and other public facilities.
DeSantis popularized his brand of politics by cracking down on Covid mask mandates and other advisories like imposing restrictions on movement and social distancing when cases rose.
Many conservative American voters as well as the vast majority of Floridans who reelected him this November in the midterm elections also were in support of his moves.
Trump: Florida was actually closed for a great, long period of time. You remember he closed the beaches and everything else. You know, they’re trying to rewrite history pic.twitter.com/xhEBm2kG4e—Acyn (@Acyn) January 29, 2023
His stance on LGBTQIA+ issues and race has also won him supporters who feel he should be the next president as he can take on the so-called ‘woke’ mob.
In a video shared by pro-Democrat Twitter account Acyn, Trump is heard saying: “They’re trying to rewrite history. Florida was closed for a long period of time. Remember he closed the beaches and everything else…”
Trump said he will consider it disloyal if DeSantis runs against him in the elections. “I got him elected. When I hear he might run, I consider that very disloyal,” Trump said, while dismissing polls which show DeSantis ahead of him.
Trump also said that several Republican governors kept their states open and DeSantis was not an outlier.
“If it wasn’t for me, Ron would not have been elected governor,” Trump said, according to a report by CNN. The real estate mogul backed the little-known congressman when he ran for Florida governor in 2018.
Trump also said that DeSantis has changed his tune on vaccines lately. In May 2021, DeSantis urged people to get vaccinated but recently he has shifted his stance after seeing that a large number of vaccine-skeptics are mostly far-right, right or conservative leaning Americans or those who support the Republican Party.
DeSantis imposed tough restrictions on movement in March 2020 but he was also the first to remove those restrictions by allowing Florida to reopen bars and restaurants in September 2020.
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