Ron DeSantis now says ‘of course’ Donald Trump lost 2020 election

Donald Trump - Ron DeSantis. Image via AP.

Ron DeSantis‘ position on the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election continues to evolve.

During an interview on NBC News’ “Today,” the Republican presidential candidate made his strongest statement yet about former President Donald Trump’s defeat.

DeSantis in his interview at first didn’t offer a clear answer when asked if Trump lost, saying, “Whoever puts their hand on the Bible on Jan. 20 every four years is the winner.” But he gave a more direct answer when pressed again.

“Of course, he lost,” DeSantis said. “Joe Biden’s the President.”

DeSantis also offered procedural criticisms in the same interview, saying, “When they changed the rules for COVID, I think that was wrong. I think some of those changes were unconstitutional. When they do mass mail ballots, I think that’s wrong. I think ballot harvesting is wrong. I think the Zuckerbucks were wrong. I think the fact that the FBI was working with Facebook and these other tech companies to censor the Hunter Biden story was wrong. And so, I don’t think it was the perfect election.”

“I remember after, a lot of the media was saying, ‘This is the most secure election in history.’ How could it be the most secure with those millions of mail ballots going out?” DeSantis bemoaned.

“At the same time, at the time, after the election, they were talking about (Nicolás) Maduro stealing votes on the voting machines or whatever, and none of those theories proved to be true,” DeSantis added, speaking about Trump’s team.

The Governor then blamed Trump for the technical issues with the election.

“Here’s the issue that I think is important for Republican voters to think about: Why did we have all those mail votes? Because … Trump turned the government over to (Anthony) Fauci. They embraced lockdowns. They did the CARES Act, which funded mail-in ballots across the country. Donald Trump signed that bill that funded the mail ballots that all the Republicans have been so concerned about,” DeSantis said.

“Also, with the censorship of Hunter Biden, that was Donald Trump’s FBI that was working with that. He didn’t have control over his own government.”

DeSantis believes “Trump helped facilitate that whole set of circumstances.”

DeSantis has been more emphatic in recent days against Trump.

“I’ve said many times: The election is what it is,” DeSantis said on Friday in Iowa. “All those theories that were put out did not prove to be true.”

DeSantis arguably was among those who “put out” theories, questioning “vote dumps that are happening a day or two or three days after Election Night” in the wake of the 2020 election in places like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own Attorney General said there was no credible evidence the election’s outcome was affected by fraud. The former President’s allegations were also roundly rejected by courts at the time, including judges he appointed.

Last week, Trump was charged by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith with four felonies related to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the violent riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Last month in an interview with CNN, DeSantis also pointed out that it’s time to move on from the 2020 Presidential Election.

“I don’t think it serves us good to have a Presidential Election focused on what happened four years ago in January. And so I want to focus on looking forward,” DeSantis added. “I don’t want to look back.”

The Governor seems to have evolved on the Presidential Election just as he did on the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that sought to stop the certification of the results.

Earlier this summer, DeSantis admonished Trump for standing by as chaos erupted on Jan. 6.

“I think it was shown how he was in the White House and didn’t do anything while things were going on. He should have come out more forcefully,” the Governor said during a West Columbia, South Carolina, news conference.

DeSantis seems to have been compelled to acknowledge reality in recent months. As recently as late June, he was asked about Jan. 6, and his comments basically gave Trump a pass for his actions ahead of the Capitol riot.

“So I wasn’t anywhere near Washington that day. I have nothing to do with what happened that day,” DeSantis responded, refusing to engage with a question about Trump’s behavior directly. “Obviously, I didn’t enjoy seeing, you know, what would happen, but we’ve got to go forward on this stuff.”

DeSantis’ shift in rhetoric has come as he seeks to reset his stagnant 2024 White House campaign. Trump, who remains widely popular with the Republican Party base, is the early and commanding front-runner in next year’s GOP presidential primary.

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The Associated Press contributed to this post. Republished with permission.