In disappointing but expected news, Ron DeSantis was reelected governor of Florida last week. While most Republicans celebrated the occurrence, it seems some quickly became worrisome. With rumors that he plans to run for president in 2024, DeSantis has caused fear in those hoping for round two of Donald Trump—Trump's family especially. The former president's daughter-in-law allegedly warned DeSantis to postpone any presidential dreams in a recent interview. While her intentions aren’t clear they seem to be rooted in fear.
“I think that Ron DeSantis is very smart,” Lara Trump told Sky News host Erin Molan. “There will be a lot of opportunity for him in the future … to run for president.”
Trump is expected to begin his presidential campaign during an event Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago. While he hasn’t been shy about his intentions to run again, he is calling his news at the event a "big announcement."
“I think he’s probably waiting to see what my father-in-law does,” Lara Trump said, “and I think he’s a smart enough guy to know that it will be great to have all this support of this party, of the America First, MAGA movement, whatever you want to call it, fully behind him in 2028, than possibly fracturing it in 2024.”
She continued on speaking and made what many saw as a threat towards DeSantis. Primaries could be "very messy" and "very raw," and that "wouldn’t it be nicer for him … to wait til 2028," she said.
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Lara isn’t the only Trump family member who has spoken against DeSantis. Donald Trump also took jabs at the popular Republican calling him “Ron DeSanctimonius” at a rally in Pennsylvania ahead of the Nov. 8 elections. Not to mention he called him an “average” Republican governor with “great Public Relations” in a statement from his Save America PAC.
While DeSantis has not indicated whether he intends to run for president in 2024, Trump is sure trying to use any tactic of fear that he can to prevent the Florida governor from doing so.
Fear tactics aren’t new for Trump. He seems to have a trend of resorting to either violence or fear when he himself is intimidated. His own family even admitted so during an interview with MSNBC Mary Trump, a frequent critic of Donald, who shared insight on the former president, noting he is at "his most dangerous" when he is afraid of losing his spotlight.
"Donald becomes his most dangerous when he fears loss of relevance, when he fears that he is no longer the center of attention," Mary Trump said, "when he fears that he is no longer the one in control.
"We don't know just what kind of information he has on other people in his party," she added. "What we do know is he would be willing to use it. I believe we talked about this before the 2020 election. Donald will burn everything down if he feels like he is going down. We cannot discount that. We ignore him at our peril."
There are speculations that maybe Trump has some information on DeSantis, which may have prompted Lara Trump’s comments, but it’s hard to say. I personally think Trump is just projecting his fears and shaming DeSantis to make himself feel better. Without competition, he is more likely to win a Republican primary.
While both are controversial figures, fewer Republicans hate DeSantis than they do Trump. DeSantis is also 44 years old, nearly three decades younger than former President Donald Trump, who is 76.
Not to mention DeSantis is also playing it smart: He’s not only dodged questions about his intentions to run but has even ignored Trump’s comments. Looks like he's letting Trump play in his own fire. Why get your hands dirty when Trump is capable of doing it himself?
But not everyone is as afraid of DeSantis winning as Trump appears to be. “I say this with all respect for Ron DeSantis, he’s never entered the ring with a pugilist like Donald Trump,” 2016 Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski told the Associated Press.
Political comment George Conway also shared that he believes DeSantis wouldn’t run for office.
"The way you take on Trump is to go after him hammer and tong, and Trump is going to go right back," Conway said. "It's going to be the mud fest to end all mud fests. And for DeSantis, I don't see what the upside is for him to do that."
Of course, this isn’t the only drama happening with the Trump family. In more tabloid news, the Trump family is trending on social media because of a picture Ivanka Trump posted. Trump’s daughter allegedly cropped out brother Donald Trump Jr.'s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, out of a family photo.
While she posted the cropped image to her Instagram grid, she later shared the full picture to her Instagram story. People are not speculating if it was unintentional due to her lack of social media skills or on purpose. Who knows?
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