Donald Trump to rally with Marco Rubio, snubbing Ron DeSantis

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives in Miami, Florida
Conflict percolates between the former President and his previous endorsee.

Donald Trump is rallying for a major statewide candidate in Miami Sunday Nov. 6. The former President announced that he will rally with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, an event slated for the Miami-Dade County Fair and Exposition Center.

Trump will appear in “support of endorsed candidate and special guest Senator Marco Rubio in Florida, where his 2022 endorsement record is currently undefeated, 19-0.”

“President Trump delivered a historic red wave for Florida in the 2018 midterms with his slate of endorsed candidates up and down the ballot and molded the Sunshine State into the MAGA stronghold it is today. Thanks to President Trump, Florida is no longer a purple state; it’s an America First Red State,” Trump’s press release added.

Trump endorsed Rubio back in 2021, crediting the Senator’s advocacy during the Russia probe.

“Marco will never let the great people of Florida, or our Country, down!” Trump’s endorsement said.

The Trump team press release alluded to the former President’s 2018 endorsements, and Ron DeSantis was the most significant (and seemingly regretted) of those bygone attaboys. Trump bemoaned that endorsement in a recently released interview.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman released audio from a September 2021 Trump interview for her new book, sound that rehashed Trump’s familiar take that DeSantis would have been stuck at just “3%” in the polls if he hadn’t successfully wheedled an endorsement from the former President in 2018.

“He was at 3%,” Trump told Haberman. “But the people of Florida didn’t associate him with the word ‘Governor.’”

“They saw him defending me on ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’” Trump added. “But you know, often times you see that, but you don’t say, ‘Oh, he’s going to be Governor of Florida.’”

“He came to me, he said, ‘I’d love your endorsement,’” Trump repeated. “I said, ‘Ron, you’re at 3%. You can’t win.’ He said, ‘If you endorse me, I can.’”

“Well, look, you never know, but it’s not going to be easy,” Trump reportedly told DeSantis, before referring to his chief Primary opponent, Adam Putnam. “This guy’s got $28 million. He’s been running for eight years.”

Haberman has reported that Trump called DeSantis “fat, phony and whiny,” offering a unique context for Trump’s reiteration of the claim that he made DeSantis, one that he has made before with similar language and narrative details.

Last year, he said he wasn’t “too thrilled” about endorsing DeSantis because “people didn’t really know who he was.”

“So when Ron asked me for help, for an endorsement,” Trump added, “He was at 3(%), and 3(%) means you don’t have a chance. He went up like a rocket ship.”

Trump and DeSantis have maintained a united front publicly, but suggestions have mounted for months that the dynamic could have frayed, especially since Trump lost the presidency.

“Trump f***ing hates DeSantis. He just resents his popularity,” one unidentified “Trump confidant” told Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman.

Among the purported grievances: DeSantis prematurely committed Trump to speak at the Florida GOP Statesman’s Dinner in 2019, he didn’t close beaches in 2020 despite Trump’s wishes, and the Governor skipped a Trump rally while appearing instead with President Joe Biden in Surfside after the Champlain Tower South collapse.

Trump’s comments on DeSantis are especially noteworthy in light of the former President continuing to work with adviser Susie Wiles, who famously was exiled from DeSantis’ orbit after his election.

Wiles, a veteran political consultant who was key to Trump winning Florida in 2016, also is widely credited with being the architect of DeSantis’ defeat of Democrat Andrew Gillum.

The former President has said DeSantis would not be a challenge.

“If I faced him, I’d beat him like I would beat everyone else,” Trump told Yahoo! Finance, noting that DeSantis likely would stand down.

However, it’s clear that DeSantis continues to stay on Trump’s mind.

The most recent tête-à-tête between DeSantis and Trump came after the Governor endorsed Joe O’Dea for Senate in Colorado. O’Dea suggested Trump’s time had passed.

“A BIG MISTAKE,” Trump decried.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


16 comments

  • John Fetterman

    October 26, 2022 at 6:39 pm

    Dr. Jill Biden / Gisele “FettPet” Fetterman 2024
    Master of Puppets Tour

  • Tom

    October 26, 2022 at 6:41 pm

    Marco Rubio must be drinking heavily lately with possible drug use to show such poor judgement by associating with the orange crime spree. This is just another reason why I’ll now vote for VAL DEMINGS!!!!!!

    • Tom

      October 26, 2022 at 6:55 pm

      Legend Tom here.
      Just a pathetic pig Joey corsin.
      You have no class, just a scum bag.
      When you can’t stand behind your own name, you are just a women’s ovary!

      • Real Tom Legend

        October 26, 2022 at 7:09 pm

        There you go again putting down women… always talking negatively about women and talking about penises. Why?

        • Tom

          October 26, 2022 at 10:07 pm

          So your trans sexual? Joey Corsin.
          LMAO.

          • Real Tom Legend

            October 26, 2022 at 11:02 pm

            There you go again talking about sexual depravity. You need therapy buddy. Seek help before you rape someone.

        • Tom

          October 26, 2022 at 10:07 pm

          So your trans sexual? Joey Corsin.
          LMAO.

          • Real Tom Legend

            October 26, 2022 at 11:04 pm

            👆 Fake Tom had a botched gender surgery. This is why he’s mad and going on about penises all the time. Not the world’s fault buddy seek help before you get beat.

    • Linda

      October 26, 2022 at 7:52 pm

      Tom, what a POOR EXCUSE for voting for a loser and liar such as Val Demings. Our veterans did NOT fight for socialism or communism. The entire Biden administration and ALL current democrat held offices are Communistic. If you don’t like America, leave it! Trump is the BEST THING that has happened to America in a long time. Can’t stand prosperity?

      • marylou

        October 27, 2022 at 8:08 am

        What do you mean about Demings and “socialism or communism”? Please provide citations

      • marylou

        October 27, 2022 at 3:06 pm

        Val Demings a Socialist?? Who is telling you this nonsense?? Please provide citations.

        If T-rump is the “BEST THING”, you do realize that Desantis getting re-elected means it’s all over for the Lying King, right?

      • Tom

        October 27, 2022 at 5:47 pm

        Agreed Linda, Dumings is a pathetic loser. She’s incompetent, everyone knows she has no chance. Dumings can’t find her gun still. Chameleon Crisp is a joke.

        I’d you have read FP the last 24 months you’d know I am the FP legend. I defend Gov, Senator Rubio regularly. No worries. Gov used my suggestion, calling Crisp “chameleon”
        this makes Joey jealous. He’s mental.

        Alias Real Tom is a fake alias, his name is Joey Corsin, also alias Charlie Crisp. He’s mentally disturbed. A real degenerate, he has sex with mommy. He also sucks men. Take care Linda.

      • Tom

        October 27, 2022 at 5:47 pm

        Agreed Linda, Dumings is a pathetic loser. She’s incompetent, everyone knows she has no chance. Dumings can’t find her gun still. Chameleon Crisp is a joke.

        I’d you have read FP the last 24 months you’d know I am the FP legend. I defend Gov, Senator Rubio regularly. No worries. Gov used my suggestion, calling Crisp “chameleon”
        this makes Joey jealous. He’s mental.

        Alias Real Tom is a fake alias, his name is Joey Corsin, also alias Charlie Crisp. He’s mentally disturbed. A real degenerate, he has sex with mommy. He also sucks men. Take care Linda.

  • Yrral

    October 26, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    Rubio is a sellout,even when Trump called him Lil Marco,he has no self esteem,in bed with a criminal Google Trump Tax Trial

  • David In Shoreline

    October 26, 2022 at 11:48 pm

    Hey I was very excited about Trump and voted for him twice. He had some great accomplishments and SCOTUS picks. But if he wants to start s*it-talking Governor DeSantis, he can go to hell. DeSantis is a once in a lifetime leader. I’d vote for DeSantis over Trump in a heartbeat. If Trump had any sense he’d immediately declare he is not running in 2024 and endorse Ron DeSantis.

Comments are closed.


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