At a midterm election rally Sunday afternoon near Miami, Donald Trump avoided insulting one of Florida’s most famous Republicans, Governor Ron DeSantis. “The people of Florida will reelect my wonderful, wonderful friend, Marco Rubio, to the United States Senate,” the former president told more than 2,000 supporters. “And you will re-elect Ron DeSantis as your governor.”
It wasn’t much of an endorsement, but the day before that, Trump fired a warning shot at his budding opponent for the GOP 2024 presidential nomination. While baffling Mehmet, Oz, US Senate GOP candidate in Pennsylvania, Trump called DeSantis “Ron DeSantimonious. Zinger comes as Trump brags about a month-old poll showing him a huge lead among Republican voters over the Florida governor and former Vice President Mike Pence.
Luis Solarana told The Daily Beast that the insult was completely unnecessary. A Brooklyn native who moved to Miami in 1984, Solarana was among dozens of other MAGA hardliners in the Miami-Dade County Fairgrounds who were pumped about a potential Republican election in the Sunshine State. on election day this Tuesday.
“I heard about what Trump calls DeSantis,” Solarana said. “It’s ridiculous. Sometimes, Trump has to keep his opinions to himself.”
However, he wants DeSantis to remain governor of Florida and for Trump to get the Republican nomination without opposition, Solarana said. “I can’t wait until 2024,” he said. “Trump is my favorite.”
For months, Trump and DeSantis have engaged in a behind the scenes of the cold war as Florida’s governor pitches himself as the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential election. While DeSantis has deftly avoided commenting on his White House aspirations, he has taken several steps to raise his national profile, including endorsing congressional and congressional candidates. congresses in other states for the midterm elections.
Among those who received the DeSantis seal of approval were those who rejected the 2020 presidential election Doug Mastriano, the Pennsylvania Republican candidate, and Kari Lake, the GOP’s candidate for governor. in Arizona.
DeSantis’ popularity is also growing. Two polls of GOP voters in Michigan and New Hampshire shows that Trump and DeSantis are statistically related, while Florida Survey shows that Republicans favor their governor over the former president.
DeSantis’ refusal to publicly support his ambitions has angered Trump, who has always declared his intention to run again since his supporters’ failed uprising on January 6, 2021.
DeSantis was notably absent from the Miami-Dade County Fairgrounds while he was in Tampa for a re-election campaign rally of his own. Many media reports note that DeSantis was not invited to the rally in Miami and the governor did not ask to attend.
However, a survey by Florida International University about Cuban-American voter, who are the majority Hispanic voting bloc in Miami-Dade County, showed they favor Trump over DdeSantis by 32% to 25%. Those who attended the Miami rally, mostly Hispanic conservatives, supported the FIU’s findings. During Trump’s speech, they chanted, “We want Trump!” “Trump won!” and we love you!”
Trump included the crowd in his usual list of false grievances about how the 2020 election was stolen from him and that his two impeachments were hoaxes. The former president also made ridiculous, baseless claims that Democrats were responsible for allowing drug cartels’ profits to rise “2,500 percent” and that “the streets in America are ruled by ruthless, bloodthirsty gangs.” He also claimed without proof that each drug dealer kills an average of 500 people in their lifetime.
Jorge Perez, 48, a Cuban-American Republican holding a large blue “Let’s Go Brandon” flag and a DeSantis campaign t-shirt, said the Florida governor stayed in lane. Your way is the right thing to do. “Trump is the one calling for attacks,” Perez said. “I imagine the Republican machine will be behind him.”
During Fantasy Fest, a popular street costume party in Key West last month, he was surprised by the proliferation of DeSantis signs in Florida’s southernmost city, Bob Kunst told The Daily Beast. . A Miami Beach resident wearing a Deplorables for Trump T-shirt and holding a homemade “Hillary for Prison” sign, Kunst said he’s met Republicans who have moved down from other states and want DeSantis to run for president.
“I told them we needed him as governor,” Kunst said. “There is no one strong enough to take over. He couldn’t generate all this momentum and then leave.”
Idianette Martinez, a Cuban-American wearing a red Trump 2024 t-shirt, agrees with Kunst. “If DeSantis was smart, I don’t think he would go against Trump,” Martinez said. “He needs to be governor and Trump has to be president again. No other way.”
