DeSantis supporters leap to his defense against Trump ahead of primary fight

Naomi Lim

April 18, 05:30 AM April 18, 05:30 AM

Voters are getting a glimpse of what is shaping up to be an ugly 2024 Republican presidential primary between the top contenders, declared candidate former President Donald Trump and undeclared Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).

But while DeSantis's supporters are now more vociferously jumping to his defense, with the governor not expected to announce a campaign until Florida's 2023 legislative session concludes next month, he risks being defined by Trump while the governor and his allies criticize the former president for his temperament and policy positions amid his mounting legal challenges.

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Last week, Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. launched its second TV ad attacking DeSantis, claiming he sought cuts to Social Security and Medicare, in addition to trying to raise the retirement age to 70. The 30-second spot, which came after a $3 million buy last month, also mocks DeSantis for allegedly eating chocolate pudding with three fingers in a 2019 anecdote reported by the Daily Beast.

Two days later, Never Back Down, the DeSantis-aligned super PAC, hit back during WHD News Sunday with its first TV ad, asking, “What happened to Donald Trump?" and urging the former president to "fight Democrats," not "lie" about the governor regarding entitlement reform. The previous day, the group had described Trump as a "gun grabber" during a 90-second digit spot geo-targeted to the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana.

"About time," Republican strategist John Feehery told the Washington Examiner. "Trump is starting to land some blows in defining DeSantis. About time that DeSantis starts fighting back."

But Claremont McKenna College politics professor John Pitney, a former Republican staffer, was uncertain about the Never Back Down ad's audience as Trump continues to dominate early polls. Months before the first GOP debate this summer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Trump averages 52% of the primary electorate to DeSantis' 24%, according to RealClearPolitics. Simultaneously, Trump raised roughly $14 million during the first quarter of 2023, particularly around the time of his indictment in March.

"Here is the message: 'Trump is stealing pages from the Biden-Pelosi playbook,'" Pitney said of President Joe Biden and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "Do the DeSantis people really think that they can convince Republicans that Trump is too much like Biden and Pelosi? That seems pretty unlikely."

"Here's the problem for DeSantis," he added. "From the standpoint of hard evidence, the strongest arguments against Trump are that he's corrupt, that he stole government documents, and that he illegally tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election. But Republicans don't like those arguments."

Former Texas Republican Party Chairman Tom Pauken, who no longer backs Trump, contended DeSantis's other problem is that Democrats "want" the former president to be the 2024 nominee. For Pauken, DeSantis is better positioned to win a general election than Trump, standing by the governor's decision to downplay Florida's new six-week abortion ban.

"Well, it got done," Pauken said. "He [came] down on the side of life. ... I understand that there's a great division over abortion. But he signed the law, and he's focusing on the issues that he's really been in the fight over, which is the wokeism and taking on Disney."

The ads underscore concerns related to Biden, the White House, and Democrats scrutinizing Republicans over Social Security and Medicare, as well as the tone for the GOP primary between Trump and DeSantis.

The Trump spots cite votes DeSantis took in 2013, 2014, and 2015 when he was a congressman to change Social Security and the retirement age, as well as votes in 2013 and 2015 to tinker with Medicare. In response, Never Back Down points to DeSantis saying last month that he is "not going to mess with Social Security" and comments Trump made in 2020 that he would "look" at entitlement programs "at some point."

Trump has more recently repeated that Republicans should not "cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security." But his presidential budgets proposed decreases to the programs, and in 2012, Trump said then-GOP presidential standard-bearer Mitt Romney and vice presidential pick Paul Ryan's ideas would "save Medicare."

"We can also raise the age for receipt of full Social Security benefits to seventy," Trump wrote in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve. "We have to allow individuals to invest some portion of their Social Security funds in investments that are real and conservative. ... Privatization would be good for all of us."

MAGA Inc. spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in New Hampshire last year, even backed privatizing Social Security and upping the retirement age on the trail.

A Republican operative supporting Trump's campaign quipped this was not "a smart road for the DeSantis camp to go down."

"His PAC's spokesman Matt Wolking used to praise Trump for building the wall and now claims he didn't," the source said. "The fact that they're responding to this shows how vulnerable they know they are on this issue."

Donald Trump indicted: Poll shows DeSantis losing significant 2024 support since charges

Emily Jacobs

April 01, 09:16 PM April 01, 09:49 PM

Former President Donald Trump's lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis among 2024 Republican presidential primary voters has tripled since news of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's indictment, a new poll found.

The Yahoo-YouGov poll, conducted from Thursday to Friday and released Saturday, showed Trump ahead of DeSantis 57% to 31%, respectively. The 26 point difference is three times the eight percent lead Trump held in the same poll when it was conducted two weeks ago. In that survey, the former president was beating the Florida governor 47% to 39%. DeSantis was ahead of Trump 45% to 41% when the poll was conducted in February.

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When the two GOP frontrunners are pitted against a wider, 10 candidate field of declared and potential challengers, Trump maintains steady support while DeSantis's numbers plunge. The former president holds 52% support in the larger primary field, up from 44% in the last poll. DeSantis, meanwhile, dropped from 28% to 21%.

No other declared or potential candidate included in the survey, including former Vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, polled in the double digits. Haley had 5% support and Pence had 3%, a far cry from Trump's 54% and DeSantis's 21%.

Of the Republicans and GOP-leaning independents polled, 54% chose Trump as their preferred nominee in 2024, while only a third said they would prefer a different candidate. That is a three point jump from the 51% who said they preferred the former president in the last survey. Results were more split when respondents who weren't aligned with Republicans were included, however.

The surge in support appears to indicate what many political observers had predicted after Trump revealed the looming indictment earlier this month: that the former president being charged would boost his 2024 candidacy, especially with Republicans.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has a complicated relationship with the former president, called the indictment an "enormous political gift" for Trump.

Speaking during an episode of his Verdict with Ted Cruz podcast on Friday, the Texas senator lamented Bragg's indictment as "devastating to the rule of law [and] to the confidence the American people will have in our justice system" before remarking that if he were a Democrat, he "might well report Alvin Bragg to the Federal Election Commission for making the single greatest in kind contribution to a presidential campaign in history."

"Look, Trump put out almost two weeks ago that he was about to get arrested, and he said he was gonna get arrested the next day," he said. "And Bragg delayed and delayed and delayed. A lot of national Democrats were freaking out and were pressuring Bragg, ‘Don't do this, don't do this, don't do this. This will help Trump.’"

Bragg, a Democrat who has refused to prosecute a number of offenses since taking office last January, indicted the former president Thursday on charges related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. The indictment marks the first time a former U.S. president has been criminally charged.

Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, testified before Congress in 2019 that he paid Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, $130,000 during the 2016 campaign to prevent her from going public about an affair she claimed to have with Trump in 2005. Cohen, who pleaded guilty and served time over the alleged payment, told lawmakers Trump reimbursed him in monthly installments.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the charges.

DeSantis hit with second ethics complaint before prospective presidential bid takes off

Cami Mondeaux

March 28, 08:09 AM March 28, 08:25 AM

The head of the Florida Democratic Party filed a complaint against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), marking a second possible ethics violation before the Republican governor has even launched a White House bid.

Nikki Fried, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, filed an ethics complaint against DeSantis on Monday, alleging the governor’s political committee of receiving improper gifts and spending money that is unrelated to the group’s formal business. The complaint comes after the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC held a retreat at a Palm Beach resort earlier this year as a way for DeSantis to meet with donors and GOP elected officials.

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“I just filed a state ethics complaint against Gov. DeSantis for accepting prohibited gifts from his political committee,” Fried tweeted. “And to the rest of the [Republicans], you may want to check all of your financial filings and campaign reports, as you all are next.”

The complaint centers on a $235,000 payment made by Friends of Ron DeSantis to the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach in February at an event to celebrate the “Florida blueprint.” State law prohibits candidates from receiving gifts from political committees, including loans, donations, or “anything of value that is not primarily related to contributions.”

Fried denounced the retreat as a way for DeSantis to huddle with top Republican leaders "to increase his national profile in advance of an anticipated run for the Republican nomination as President.”

The Democratic chairwoman cited a handful of other improper payments in her complaint, including a $142,388 payment toward the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami and $11,895 to Dirty French Steakhouse. If found in violation, DeSantis could be subject to a penalty “equal to three times the amount of the gifts,” according to state law.

A spokesperson for the governor rejected the accusations, maintaining the events were not held improperly.

“Just like the [ethics complaint] from two weeks ago, we’ll just add this to the list of frivolous & politically motivated attacks,” Taryn Fenske said, referring to an initial ethics complaint filed against DeSantis earlier this month. “Louder for the Dems in the back: It’s inappropriate to use ethics complaints for partisan purposes.”

DeSantis was hit with a similar ethics complaint by a super PAC backing former President Donald Trump for the nomination. That complaint requested the state GOP to investigate whether DeSantis is using his elected office as leverage to elevate his national profile ahead of a presidential run.

DeSantis has not yet announced a White House run, but the Florida governor is widely expected to do so in the coming weeks. Should he choose to run, the Florida governor is set to be a competitive candidate and top challenger to Trump’s reelection bid.

Trump trying out PG-13 nickname for DeSantis in tried and true campaign strategy

Max Thornberry

March 04, 11:30 AM March 04, 11:30 AM

Former President Donald Trump is returning to a tried and true campaign strategy, focusing on creating demeaning nicknames for his most dangerous opponents.

While the Republican field is still sparse, challengers to the party’s leader are starting to file in, with at least one conspicuous absence. Even if Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn’t confirmed he is running to dethrone Trump, the former president is treating his former protege as his chief rival.

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From his home base at Mar-a-Lago, Trump has been workshopping new monikers for his state’s leader, according to Bloomberg. However, he is struggling to find something to stick to DeSantis, who has shrugged off Democratic attacks and let Republican ones roll off his back.

The latest round of insults includes Trump’s favorite — Ron DeSanctimonious — as well as, Trump allies say, newcomers “Ron DisHonest,” “Ron DeEstablishment,” and “Tiny D.”

DeSantis rose to national prominence during the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic when he took a hard line on reopening public spaces, schools, and businesses while much of the country remained sheltered in place. The Florida governor, who rode his popularity to a stunning 19-point victory in November, has touted his record, though his claims have drawn sharp criticism from Trump.

“There are Republican governors that did not close their states; Florida was closed for a long period of time,” Trump said about DeSantis in January. "They’re trying to rewrite history."

More recently, Trump has done his best to tie DeSantis to the “establishment” Republicans he ran successfully against in 2016. Trump has highlighted DeSantis’s ties to House Speaker Paul Ryan, and played up former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s praise for his predecessor as a point against the current Florida governor.

The PG-13 nature of Trump’s newest nickname for his chief rival reflects a similar criticism leveled against him in 2016 when he was dogged by Saturday Night Live skits and a political action committee that took aim at Trump’s small hands.

The former president will have another open goal opportunity to score points against DeSantis Saturday evening when he gives the keynote address at the Conservative Political Action Conference. DeSantis, as well as another likely Trump challenger, former Vice President Mike Pence, declined to appear at the conference.

However, Trump isn’t expected to use his bully pulpit to attack future challengers, instead turning his ire on current establishment Republican leaders.