Donald Trump uses Ron DeSantis as foil in Nikki Haley attacks

Trump-DeSantis-Haley
Now that the Governor is out of the race, the former President has nothing but praise for him.

Former President Donald Trump’s victory speech after the New Hampshire Primary included some praise for Florida’s Governor.

Trump compared Nikki Haley’s insistence that she performed well in the Granite State to Ron DeSantis, who finished second in Iowa but exited the race days afterward. DeSantis’ decision came in the wake of mixed signals from his campaign regarding travel plans and interview commitments as it became clear he couldn’t win the first-in-the-nation Primary.

“She’s doing like a speech like she won. She didn’t win, she lost,” Trump said. “And, you know, last, last week we had a little bit of a problem and if you remember Ron was very upset because she ran up and she pretended she won Iowa, and I looked around and said didn’t she come in third?”

Trump noted that Haley was similarly triumphant after the Iowa caucuses last week.

“I said, ‘she’s taking a victory lap’ and we beat her so badly. She was, but Ron beat her also. You know, Ron came in second and he left. She came in third and she’s still hanging around.”

This is the second straight night where Trump went out of his way to praise his former opponent. On Monday, he said DeSantis did “a very good job” as a candidate, and expressed his interest in “working with Ron.”

Trump’s words could be interpreted as yet another olive branch to a defeated opponent, though it’s far from clear how enthused DeSantis is with being the junior partner in the dynamic. He rejected a legislative proposal to budget $5 million for Trump’s legal defense on Monday, and said Tuesday his voters in Iowa had “checked out” before the caucuses even though they thought he was the better candidate.

Meanwhile, the New Hampshire results show DeSantis voters have moved on, with the Governor well below 1% at this writing.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. He writes for the New York Post and National Review also, with previous work in the American Conservative and Washington Times and a 15+ year run as a columnist in Folio Weekly. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


12 comments

  • My Take

    January 24, 2024 at 12:18 am

    Trump saying someone else should admit she really lost !!

    His supporters must be staggeringly stupid or deeply dishonest.

    • Dont Say FLA

      January 24, 2024 at 7:52 am

      Trump supporters either never even heard about the things that he said, or they figure the lying media is lying.

      And when the media takes stuff like Trump only being a dictator on day one and hammers it constantly despite it just being a flippant answer to a question about whether he would be a dictator, it’s little wonder folks figure the media is lying.

      Yeah he did say “Only on day one,” but it was a flippant remark that meant nothing at all.

      Might he want to be a dictator? Absolutely. Yes. But that “:only on day one” statement was just leveraging flippancy to avoid answering the question.

      Reporting “only on day one” as more than a flippant remark doesn’t damage Trump. It helps him with his rehash of Flava Flav’s line about “the false media we don’t need it do we harry.”

      Rather than drilling into the details of every hyperbolic Trump statement, the media should be reporting “don’t believe the hype.”

      • MH/Duuuval

        January 24, 2024 at 8:33 pm

        You make a fair case for DJT being hyperbolic, but in the 2016 election campaign (Oct.) he told the country and messaged his followers that if he lost, the election would have been stolen. And, on the record, said that he didn’t know how far his adherents would go in reaction to a stolen election, but he wouldn’t be able to keep them in check.

        We got a preview on J6 when DJT planned and then egged on his mob to halt the election proceedings.

        I do agree that DJT is windy and stupid and, in fact, he appears to be losing his mental acuity — such as it was since he’s a creature of gut and guile.

        As my African American friends say: If someone tells you something about themselves, believe them. Amen!

  • Earl Pitts "Sage Political Expert Emeritas" American

    January 24, 2024 at 7:01 am

    Good mornting America,
    Fans and Followers of Me, Earl Pitts American, already know that Don, Ron, and The Sage Earl’s great plan of victory will result in Eight Great Years of Ron and The Beautiful Casey in The White House.
    Thank you everyone for your faith and support of our “Sage Plan” to correct everything 8Iden €FFED UP in his “Disgracefull 4 Years as POTUS.
    Earl Pitts “Sage Political Prognosticater” American.
    *FREE BUMPER STICKER*
    *EARL PITTS AMERICAN FAN ON BOARD*

    • Dont Say FLA

      January 24, 2024 at 8:00 am

      How ya doin’, pops. I know we disagreed on Ron, but you’re still my pops. I love ya and hope you’re doing okay.

      Remember people say it’s always dawn right after the darkest part of the night.

      That’s a bunch of malarkey because the darkness at night in flyover country has to do with where the moon is, but we know what people mean when they say that.

      Elsewhere it’s streetlights and other light pollution.

    • Gobel

      January 25, 2024 at 6:26 pm

      It shouldn’t be surprising you made a living off this schtick. You’re so entrenched.

  • Dont Say FLA

    January 24, 2024 at 7:45 am

    Trump should not use Ron DeSantis as foil. Only tin foil will keep the mind control beams from the Jewish space lasers out of his shriveled… brain.

  • MH/Duuuval

    January 24, 2024 at 9:29 am

    What DJT got from Never Back Down Dee: capitulation.

    BTW: I switched my voter registration to R in five minutes online and will vote in the Florida MAGA primary. But, will there be anyone other than DJT in the contest?

    • PeterH

      January 24, 2024 at 10:22 am

      The Party’s control the Primary voting in most States. Independent voters who as a block are more numerous than Republicans actually decide elections in the General Election. In NH exit polling ……70% of independent voters were participating in the Primary to block Trump.

      • MH/Duuuval

        January 24, 2024 at 8:36 pm

        And Biden got an overwhelming majority of NH votes entirely by write-in. (This can happen where there is an educated and civic-minded populace.)

        • Sally B

          January 26, 2024 at 4:40 am

          Aren’t you educated and civic-minded yet reside in Florida? It’s a rhetorical question. The pseudo intellectuals among us …

    • Dont Say FLA

      January 30, 2024 at 9:43 pm

      I used to vote for the least crazy Republicans in the GOP Primary but thanks to MAGA there’s no point anymore. Just pick your favorite opponents from the opposing party. MAGA has destroyed conservatism. It’s over. Trump increased the deficit like nobody ever before in all of history. The GOP and Democrats have traded places again, except this time the GOP will retain the racist whites. On the GOP side, you get crackers voting for racist reps. On the Dem side, you get fiscal responsibility and support for America as America is, not as old white people wish America was.

Comments are closed.


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