Ron DeSantis returns fire against Donald Trump, contends voters’ ‘verdict’ on the Governor is in

Trump DeSantis
'America's Governor' points to the scoreboard in response to the former President's fulminations.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is finally on offense against former President Donald Trump, spotlighting the two men’s most recent elections.

Trump, who has attacked DeSantis repeatedly since before the November 2022 election, had gotten away with relative impunity slamming the man he’s dubbed “Ron DeSanctimonious.” The most recent attack was on DeSantis’ handling of COVID-19.

But at a press conference in Bradenton, the Governor said the people of Florida had “rendered” their “verdict” with his re-election last year, offering yet another preview of a potential 2024 GOP Primary slugfest between the former allies.

“What I would just say is this. I roll out of bed, I have people attacking me from all angles. It’s been happening for many, many years,” DeSantis said.

“If you take a crisis situation like COVID, the good thing is that if you’re an elected executive, you have to make all kinds of decisions. You’ve got to steer that ship. And the good thing is, the people are able to render a judgment on that, whether they re-elect you or not.”

DeSantis then turned to his historic win this past November.

“I’m happy to say that, you know, in my case, not only did we win re-election, we won with the highest percentage of the vote that any Republican Governor candidate has in the history of the state of Florida,” DeSantis said, noting his raw vote margin “nearly doubled” the previous record.

“That verdict has been rendered by the people of the state of Florida,” DeSantis added to applause.

The Governor’s comments come after Trump told reporters on his campaign plane this weekend that “disloyal” DeSantis was trying to “rewrite history” regarding COVID-19 mitigation strategies.

DeSantis had pointed to the “scoreboard” before, responding to Trumpian attacks in November.

“At the end of the day, I would tell people to check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night. The fact of the matter is it was the greatest Republican victory in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said, noting legislative supermajorities, School Board wins, and congressional flips as part of the “sweep.”

Trump has offered a lot more DeSantis derision than the other way around, calling him an “average Republican Governor” months back, and more recently suggesting that DeSantis is a “globalist.”

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


10 comments

  • Republicans are corrupt

    January 31, 2023 at 11:47 am

    Both of them are a danger to the country

    • Ocean Joe

      January 31, 2023 at 12:53 pm

      And to the buffet table.

      Desantis should stand down, don’t offend the truest MAGATs and wait for the cheeseburgers to finish off his opponent.

      • ScienceBLVR

        January 31, 2023 at 1:54 pm

        Still have hopes the Justice Dept or any of the numerous legal entities investigating or suing him will put the final nails in any future governmental aspirations. You can live a long time with good health care…

        • Dems are ALL groomers

          January 31, 2023 at 2:21 pm

          Yer a good little USSR citizen. The State would not go after an innocent man!

          • Jim Cline

            January 31, 2023 at 3:29 pm

            Your comments are not nearly as clever as you think they are.

    • Dems are ALL groomers

      January 31, 2023 at 2:20 pm

      and by “danger to the country” you mean you and all your groomer friends.

      • That is

        February 1, 2023 at 8:24 pm

        That’s more of a Republican thing.
        Like being a racist and dying of old age.

      • cassandra

        February 2, 2023 at 2:24 pm

        ****The 47-year-old principal of a Christian school in Tennessee has been arrested for the second time over sexual activity with multiple minors and has been slapped with 11 additional charges. Also charged is 28-year-old Brittney Branham, a secretary and homeschool coordinator at Liberty.

        ****Desantis spent *one* year teaching at Darlington School. Former students reveal his inappropriate behavior inside–and outside–the classroom: Showing up at underage drinking parties, cruel jokes on students, inaccurate history lessons, preaching his own religious *opinions* with disregard for students’ religious beliefs. Can this have something to do with why he did not return for the next school year? Is this what the “grooming” obsession is about?

        Actual groomers are ALWAYS REPUBLICANS>

  • Dennis Throm

    February 1, 2023 at 10:28 am

    DeSantis has already been told that he violated the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Florida Constitution by a federal Judge in his suspension of Andrew Warren a TWICE elected Hillsboro County State Attorney.
    He also violated the State Constitution by his redistricing plan and violated the Fair Districts standard of the Florida Contitution.

  • It's Complicated

    February 1, 2023 at 11:19 am

    FACT: DeSantis was reelected by a historic margin. It’s a great response to Trump, IMHO.

    FACT: Trump won POTUS in 2016 because voters thought Hillary Clinton was an unacceptable choice. Trump was seen as the ‘lesser or two evils’. It was not a Trump mandate. Trump is not ‘all that’.

    FACT: Biden won POTUS in 2020 because voters thought Trump was an unacceptable choice. Biden was seen as the ‘lesser of two evils’. It was not a Biden mandate. Biden is not ‘all that’.

Comments are closed.


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