Trump Ratchets Up Attacks on Potential Challenger Trying to 'Rewrite History'
The 2024 Presidential election cycle is now underway, despite the somewhat strange hesitation from a great many likely candidates to go ahead and announce their intent already.
Donald Trump is in, of course, with the former President becoming the first candidate to declare his intent to seek reelection just days after the completion of the 2022 midterm elections.
Incumbent President Joe Biden is now said to be planning his own reelection proclamation, likely waiting until after his state of the union address.
And while there’s no telling if there will be any Democrats looking to challenge Biden for the nomination, it is expected that Trump will be facing opposition from within the party, and very likely from high-polling Florida Governor Ron De Santis. This has the former President going on the offensive.
Former President Donald Trump took aim at Ron DeSantis Saturday, claiming the Florida governor and his team are “trying to rewrite history” regarding their Covid-19 pandemic response, and called the potential presidential run by his GOP rival “very disloyal.”
“There are Republican governors that did not close their states,” Trump told reporters while aboard his plane. “Florida was closed for a long period of time.”
“They’re trying to rewrite history,” he added. CNN has reached out to DeSantis for comment.
Trump was not mincing his words.
In March 2020, the Florida governor issued an executive order closing bars and nightclubs, urging people to follow US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to limit gatherings on beaches to no more than 10 people. By that September, DeSantis signed an order clearing restaurants and bars to fully open, which drew criticism from public health officials due to the Covid-19 spike that fall.
Trump defended his management of the pandemic, saying he left decisions to governors.
“I had governors that decided not to close a thing and that was up to them,” he said. The former president also took aim at DeSantis’ shifting posture on vaccines, saying the Florida governor had “changed his tune a lot.”
Trump’s beef with DeSantis has been growing for months, as the Sunshine State lawmaker continues to play coy about his potential 2024 plans.
