Former President Donald Trump is of the impression Ron DeSantis’ fundraising efforts are failing, despite a new report suggesting the Florida Governor is pulling in masses more donations than Trump currently.
On Friday, it was revealed in a Politico report how DeSantis has managed to amass $110million campaign war chest that would go towards a presidential bid, compared with Trump’s $55million that was reported as being on hand at the end of 2022.
But Trump claimed ‘off the record’ that Republican donors are actually abandoning DeSantis and instead supporting his own 2024 presidential campaign.
Trump made the assertions during an hour long conversation on The War Room podcast presented by his former advisor and right-wing media personality Steve Bannon, on Friday.
Trump criticized DeSantis, who is seen as his top rival within the Republican Party, although he has not yet declared himself to be running as a candidate in the 2024 presidential campaign.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has raised $110 million in donations for his potential 2024 presidential bid, surpassing Donald Trump’s $55 million
Speaking with Steve Bannon, right, Donald Trump claimed DeSantis is ‘failing badly’ with GOP donors now abandoning him to support Trump’s campaign instead
Despite DeSantis’ recent fundraising success, Trump asserted that he is ‘failing badly’ referring to the governor by his given nickname ‘Ron DeSanctimonious.’
Trump insisted that donors are leaving DeSantis and calling him up instead.
‘The donors are largely leaving him now, you know,’ Trump said.
‘I think so,’ Bannon agreed.
The reason for the switch, Trump said, was that donors were closely following the polls and have decided that the momentum is shifting and once again with Trump.
‘In fact, I will tell you off the record. Off the record except for the millions of people that watch your show,’ Trump jokes. ‘But what’s happening is the donors are calling me right now because the donors follow the polls and when they see a guy getting clobbered–’
Trump chose to bring up the subject of money during the podcast despite recent reports that DeSantis has raised more funds than any other possible or declared candidate, including Trump.
Trump explained it as simply donors following the polls and see the momentum shifting back to Trump; DeSantis has not yet declared himself as a candidate
Trump repeated his claim that he had saved DeSantis’ career, but called him a ‘lousy politician,’ a term Trump had once used to describe himself during his 2016 campaign
Trump also repeated his claim that he had saved DeSantis’ career, but called him a ‘lousy politician,’ a term Trump had once used to describe himself during his 2016 campaign.
‘Ron DeSanctimonious. I mean, you know, it’s always bad, you endorse somebody. He’s dead, he’s, he’s over, his political career. He’s going to be looking for a job. They’ll be lucky to get a job. Comes to me, begs me for an endorsement. I give it to him,’ Trump recounted.
‘He ends up winning the election, winning the nomination, winning the election by numbers that you wouldn’t believe. I mean, he was so far down, he was gone. And then they shout to him a couple of years later, Will you run against the president? ‘I have no comment.’ Now, no comment means the answer is yes, right?
‘But today a very interesting thing happened. He said he’s going to form a committee. He’s going to form an exploratory committee to determine [whether he should run]. Well, that’s a big step because he was never looking at committees. Now he’s looking at committees. It’s amazing what being 40 down does.’
Trump chose to bring up the subject of money during the podcast despite reports that DeSantis has raised more funds than any other possible or declared candidate, including Trump
Ron DeSantis is said to be eyeing the first two weeks of June to formally jump into the presidential race. Pictured, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis arrives at the Foreign Office to visit Britain’s Foreign Secretary in London on Friday
DeSantis is eyeing the first two weeks of June to formally jump into the presidential race, Bloomberg News reported citing people familiar with the deliberations.
The governor and his team are considering a campaign kick-off in the Florida governor’s hometown of Dunedin — or in Ohio or Pennsylvania, swing states where he has family ties.
Publicly DeSantis has said he remains undecided about running for president this cycle. But he’s been on a book tour to the important early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan, which many see as a precursor to a presidential campaign.
He trails former President Donald Trump in the polls for the GOP nomination however. And there is chatter among Republican donors that they may not support the Florida governor, questioning his qualifications.
Trump has been almost singularly focused on swinging at DeSantis, whom he has attacked for policy positions on entitlement reform, his loyalty to conservative causes, even his character.
While DeSantis has largely ignored Trump’s jabs, a pro-DeSantis super political action committee, Never Back Down, began to respond in paid ads this month.
DeSantis is currently on a tour of the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and Israel intended to burnish his foreign policy credentials.
He’s facing fire from all sides – Trump has hammered at him on the campaign trail and, back home in Florida, DeSantis is in a knife-match with Walt Disney Company, one of the biggest employers in the state.
On Thursday, a Fox News poll showed Trump with a whopping 32-point lead against second place finisher DeSantis, who earned 21 percent support to the former president’s 53 percent.
Other than Trump and DeSantis, no other announced or potential Republican candidates garnered double-digit support from those surveyed in the new Fox News poll.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who has not yet announced a run, came in third place to Trump and DeSantis, earning 6 percent – and Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and once-Trump’s ambassador to the UN who is officially running, came in fourth with 4 percent.
Longshot candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who made his millions in the biotech and investment firm fields, is coming in at 3 percent.
Meanwhile, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, both unannounced but rumored to be considering a run, are tied for sixth with 2 percent support among Republican primary voters.
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