Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump are both heavyweights in Florida, an almost totally red state. One of them is a governor of the Sunshine State while the other is a former president. Both of them are eyeing the top position in the nation, although neither one of them has officially announced it as yet.
As they circle each other, Trump had resorted to his usual style of insulting opponents while DeSantis refuses to take a knee to his former leader and once upon a time mentor and supporter by being noncommittal about whether he would run for the top post in the nation. The two conservative leaders are among the top two leaders in popularity in the GOP. They have large followings and used to be on the same page, earlier.
According to aides, Trump reportedly said that DeSantis, who is a popular governor, had “no personal charisma.” He also described him as a “dull personality.” Reports say that the former president is upset with his protege DeSantis as he has not publicly acknowledged that Trump should be the only one to run once again for president in 2024.
According to reports, aides also said that DeSantis has been upset with Trump and reportedly said that he was “uncharacteristically out of step with the hard-line elements of his party base.” The Florida governor also said that it ( the endorsement of Trump) “is too much to ask for” after Trump’s recent criticism of him, after Trump personally attacked his personality.
Although the future presidential elections are the underlying cause, the two GOP stalwarts are using COVID as an issue to disagree in public.
Donald Trump publicly acknowledged that he had received a booster shot. He seemed to take a shot at DeSantis when he criticized “gutless” politicians who refuse to talk about their vaccine status as they feared strong reactions from vaccine skeptics.
On Friday, DeSantis criticized the initial handling of the pandemic when Trump was still the president of the nation. He said that he had regrets that he had not being vocal enough in his complaints.
As the young 43-year old DeSantis and the older 75-year old Trump skirt around issues that affect their conservative base, the Republicans in the party remain somewhat silent.
