Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis withdrew from the race on January 21. He stuck to his promise and embraced Trump even as he suspended his campaign. Then, just days later, he went back on the attack.
If DeSantis couldn’t secure the GOP nomination himself, he had pledged to support the nominee who did so when he entered the presidential campaign. Following Trump’s decisive victory in the Iowa caucuses on January 15, the governor assessed his prospects of catching up, determined he lacked the necessary support, and consequently, ended his candidacy. Despite Trump’s vicious attacks on him, he went ahead and endorsed Trump as the party’s next presidential nominee, just as he had promised.
However, this ceasefire was short-lived. After openly endorsing Trump’s campaign the day before, DeSantis shifted his focus to a bill that was making its way to the Florida legislature. Florida would have been able to pay up to $5 million in legal fees for Trump’s numerous pending court challenges if State Senator Ileana Garcia’s (R) measure had been approved. These additional millions would have been added to the millions already paid by pro-Trump PACs and would have been obtained from taxpayers in Florida.
DeSantis quickly shot that idea down. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on January 22, he made his feelings clear. Media site Politico had sent a post reading “Some Florida Republicans want taxpayers to pay Trump’s legal bills.” DeSantis quote-posted that message, with the comment “But not the Florida Republican who wields the veto pen…” The message was clear: If that bill passed the state legislature and landed on his desk, he wasn’t going to sign it. Garcia immediately said she would withdraw the bill.
Will that be the last of DeSantis? That seems implausible. Despite Trump’s resounding victories in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, he expressed concern on Tuesday’s Blaze Media “Steve Deace Show” that low voter turnout could pose challenges for him in the future. His unforgiveness over the acrimonious fight leading up to Iowa is evident, even though he favored the former president.
