Following widespread allegations that Trump was responsible for the Republican election losses, the president lashed out at Republican nominee Ron DeSantis.
Some Republicans are reviving efforts to promote Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ possible presidential bid in 2024 in the wake of the disappointing showing of candidates favored by former President Donald Trump in crucial contests last week.
Republican strategist John Thomas is preparing to launch a super PAC called Ron to the Rescue in favor of popular Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ potential 2020 presidential bid, despite DeSantis’ lack of an official announcement of his candidacy. Trump, subject to widespread criticism in the wake of last week’s election, is reportedly planning to declare his candidacy on Tuesday.
“This seems to me very much like 2008,” Thomas told Insider on Friday, comparing DeSantis to Obama and Trump to Hillary. “A battle between Ron and Don. I’m down with it.”
2008 was the year when the voters “was ready for a bright, fresh new face that can alter American politics and, most crucially, win,” he stated.
DeSantis won his election by 20 points, while Trump’s nominees suffered crushing defeats. Losses by Trump-endorsed candidates in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere led to a Democratic Senate and a toss-up House of Representatives, despite widespread predictions to the contrary.
Many conservative pundits saw the election results as evidence that the GOP should abandon Trump. Conservative commentators said that Trump’s endorsement of crazy candidates had flipped previously certain victories into tight ones and maybe lost ones.
On Twitter, Michael Brendan Dougherty, a senior writer at National Review, expressed his dismay at the anti-Trump sentiment currently trending on conservative and GOP channels. His “people are s—-ing the bed” while “the one man he criticized before Election Day was DeSantis – the clear winner.”
Last week, Trump released a rambling message attacking DeSantis, claiming he had won the 2020 presidential race in Florida.
Trump supporters, however, have tried to pin the blame for the Senate losses on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, claiming that McConnell improperly allocated campaign funds.