Donald Trump is rallying for a major statewide candidate in Miami Sunday Nov. 6. The former President announced that he will rally with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, an event slated for the Miami-Dade County Fair and Exposition Center.
Trump will appear in “support of endorsed candidate and special guest Senator Marco Rubio in Florida, where his 2022 endorsement record is currently undefeated, 19-0.”
“President Trump delivered a historic red wave for Florida in the 2018 midterms with his slate of endorsed candidates up and down the ballot and molded the Sunshine State into the MAGA stronghold it is today. Thanks to President Trump, Florida is no longer a purple state; it’s an America First Red State,” Trump’s press release added.
Trump endorsed Rubio back in 2021, crediting the Senator’s advocacy during the Russia probe.
“Marco will never let the great people of Florida, or our Country, down!” Trump’s endorsement said.
The Trump team press release alluded to the former President’s 2018 endorsements, and Ron DeSantis was the most significant (and seemingly regretted) of those bygone attaboys. Trump bemoaned that endorsement in a recently released interview.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman released audio from a September 2021 Trump interview for her new book, sound that rehashed Trump’s familiar take that DeSantis would have been stuck at just “3%” in the polls if he hadn’t successfully wheedled an endorsement from the former President in 2018.
“He was at 3%,” Trump told Haberman. “But the people of Florida didn’t associate him with the word ‘Governor.’”
“They saw him defending me on ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’” Trump added. “But you know, often times you see that, but you don’t say, ‘Oh, he’s going to be Governor of Florida.’”
“He came to me, he said, ‘I’d love your endorsement,’” Trump repeated. “I said, ‘Ron, you’re at 3%. You can’t win.’ He said, ‘If you endorse me, I can.’”
“Well, look, you never know, but it’s not going to be easy,” Trump reportedly told DeSantis, before referring to his chief Primary opponent, Adam Putnam. “This guy’s got $28 million. He’s been running for eight years.”
Haberman has reported that Trump called DeSantis “fat, phony and whiny,” offering a unique context for Trump’s reiteration of the claim that he made DeSantis, one that he has made before with similar language and narrative details.
Last year, he said he wasn’t “too thrilled” about endorsing DeSantis because “people didn’t really know who he was.”
“So when Ron asked me for help, for an endorsement,” Trump added, “He was at 3(%), and 3(%) means you don’t have a chance. He went up like a rocket ship.”
Trump and DeSantis have maintained a united front publicly, but suggestions have mounted for months that the dynamic could have frayed, especially since Trump lost the presidency.
“Trump f***ing hates DeSantis. He just resents his popularity,” one unidentified “Trump confidant” told Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman.
Among the purported grievances: DeSantis prematurely committed Trump to speak at the Florida GOP Statesman’s Dinner in 2019, he didn’t close beaches in 2020 despite Trump’s wishes, and the Governor skipped a Trump rally while appearing instead with President Joe Biden in Surfside after the Champlain Tower South collapse.
Trump’s comments on DeSantis are especially noteworthy in light of the former President continuing to work with adviser Susie Wiles, who famously was exiled from DeSantis’ orbit after his election.
Wiles, a veteran political consultant who was key to Trump winning Florida in 2016, also is widely credited with being the architect of DeSantis’ defeat of Democrat Andrew Gillum.
The former President has said DeSantis would not be a challenge.
“If I faced him, I’d beat him like I would beat everyone else,” Trump told Yahoo! Finance, noting that DeSantis likely would stand down.
However, it’s clear that DeSantis continues to stay on Trump’s mind.
The most recent tête-à-tête between DeSantis and Trump came after the Governor endorsed Joe O’Dea for Senate in Colorado. O’Dea suggested Trump’s time had passed.
“A BIG MISTAKE,” Trump decried.
Post Views:
0