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Former President Trump took aim at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on the campaign trail this weekend, criticizing DeSantis for his management of the COVID-19 pandemic and branding him “disloyal.”
Driving the news: Trump faced a wave of blame in the wake of the GOP’s performance in 2022 midterm elections, with some post-election polls showing DeSantis with an edge over the former president as a potential 2024 GOP nominee.
- However, three national polls released this month showed Trump clawing back momentum from DeSantis in a hypothetical 2024 Republican presidential primary.
The big picture: As Trump hit his first campaign stops on Saturday, he criticized what he characterized as DeSantis’ shifting positions on COVID-19 vaccines and closures during the pandemic.
- DeSantis’ hands-off approach to the pandemic — reopening schools for in-person learning earlier than other states, fighting vaccine mandates and refusing to reimpose restrictions during case spikes — was a key to developing his political brand, Axios’ Caitlin Owens writes.
- “There are Republican governors that did not close their states,” Trump said aboard his plane, CNN reports. “Florida was closed for a long period of time.”
- Trump added that DeSantis had “changed his tune a lot” with regards to COVID-19 vaccines, accusing the Florida governor and his team of “trying to rewrite history,” per CNN.
- DeSantis‘ office did not immediately return Axios’ request for comment.
Trump dismissed polls that showed DeSantis with a leading edge and took credit for elevating his career, Politico reported.
- “He won’t be leading, I got him elected,” Trump said.
- “So when I hear he might run, I consider that very disloyal,” Trump added, CNN reported.
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