DeSantis, Doubling Down, Presses Questions About Trump’s Character

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, the closest potential rival to Donald J. Trump in early polls of the 2024 Republican presidential main, pressed ahead with questions in regards to the former president’s character and pointed to himself as a low-drama “winner” in an interview this week with the British media character Piers Morgan.

The interview, which Mr. Morgan wrote about Tuesday for The New York Submit, was placing by way of how expansive Mr. DeSantis was and of his alternative of interviewer: Mr. Morgan, like Mr. DeSantis, has been a goal of Mr. Trump’s ire.

The interview passed off sooner or later after an occasion Mr. DeSantis held on Monday in Panama Metropolis, Fla., the place he criticized the Manhattan district legal professional, Alvin L. Bragg, who is anticipated to indict Mr. Trump on costs associated to hush-money funds to a porn star who stated she had an affair with him. After that occasion, Mr. DeSantis additionally highlighted Mr. Trump’s private conduct.

Within the interview with Mr. Morgan, Mr. DeSantis took clear intention at Mr. Trump’s often-criticized penchant for chaos and for hiring individuals who had been at odds along with his professed coverage pursuits and who typically leaked data to the information media.

“I additionally suppose simply by way of my method to management, I get personnel within the authorities who’ve the agenda of the folks and share our agenda,” Mr. DeSantis stated. “You carry your personal agenda in, you’re gone. We’re simply not going to have that. So, the way in which we run the federal government, I believe, isn’t any each day drama, deal with the massive image and put factors on the board, and I believe that’s one thing that’s essential.”

When Mr. Morgan requested Mr. DeSantis “if he meant to be as censorious as he sounded” in his feedback on Monday mentioning Mr. Trump’s private conduct, the governor replied: “Properly, there’s a number of hypothesis about what the underlying conduct is. That’s presupposed to be it, and the truth is that’s simply outdoors my wheelhouse.”

Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump, slammed Mr. DeSantis for the interview.

“Ron DeSantis has lastly proven his true colours,” he wrote on Twitter. “An institution By no means Trumper who despises the MAGA base and was faking it your entire time.”

Taylor Budowich, a high official on the tremendous PAC supporting Mr. Trump and a former spokesman for the president, wrote, “Whereas your entire conservative motion is united in opposition to the unjust indictment of President Donald Trump, DeSantis is selecting to go off half-cocked and take photographs on some low-rent vlog.”

Mr. DeSantis, who has shied away from the mainstream information media, sounded a bullish notice about operating for president. He’s anticipated to formally announce his candidacy within the coming months.

“If I had been to run, I’m operating in opposition to Biden,” Mr. DeSantis stated. He added that he would maintain his deal with “Biden as a result of I believe he’s failed the nation. I believe the nation needs a change. I believe they need a recent begin and a brand new path, and so we’ll be very vocal about that.”

Requested if he might beat President Biden, he stated, “I believe so.”

Mr. Morgan wrote in The Submit that when he requested a query in regards to the conduct of leaders, Mr. DeSantis responded, “You actually need to look to folks like our founding fathers, like what sort of character? It’s not saying that you just don’t ever make a mistake in your private life, however I believe what sort of character are you bringing?”

He pointed to George Washington — who “at all times put the Republic over his personal private curiosity” — for instance.

At one other level, he described “reality” as “important,” a notable remark in a dialogue about Mr. Trump, who is thought for telling falsehoods and whose lies in regards to the 2020 election have dominated political life within the nation for 2 years.

Mr. DeSantis, who has confronted assaults from Mr. Trump over Covid restrictions in Florida at first of the pandemic, sought to show the tables.

“The method to Covid was totally different,” Mr. DeSantis stated. “I’d have fired someone like Fauci. I believe he acquired approach too massive for his breeches, and I believe he did a number of injury.”

In actuality, Mr. Trump didn’t have direct management over Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the infectious-disease skilled whom Republicans become a villain because the pandemic continued.

Mr. DeSantis, who graduated from Yale College, claimed to not “know methods to spell” one in every of Mr. Trump’s nicknames for him, Ron DeSanctimonious.

“I don’t actually know what it means, however I sort of prefer it,” Mr. DeSantis stated. “It’s lengthy, it’s acquired a number of vowels. We’ll go together with that, that’s effective. I imply, you possibly can name me no matter you need, simply so long as you additionally name me a winner, as a result of that’s what we’ve been in a position to do in Florida, is put a number of factors on the board and actually take this state to the following stage.”

Mr. DeSantis’s aggression this week has stunned Republican operatives and Trump allies. His feedback to Mr. Morgan got here a day after Mr. Trump made an announcement on his social media web site, Fact Social, insinuating that Mr. DeSantis could be homosexual — a response to Mr. DeSantis’s feedback about “hush cash” and “porn stars.” (Mr. Trump has denied having an affair with Stormy Daniels, the porn star within the New York case.)

“Ron DeSanctimonious will in all probability discover out about FALSE ACCUSATIONS & FAKE STORIES someday sooner or later, as he will get older, wiser, and higher identified, when he’s unfairly and illegally attacked by a girl, even classmates which can be ‘underage’ (or presumably a person!),” Mr. Trump wrote on Monday. “I’m positive he’ll need to struggle these misfits identical to I do!”