The 2024 Republican presidential primary is about to get ugly.
Former President Donald Trump has never shied away from a political fight and has been on the offensive against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for months.
Now that DeSantis officially has launched his candidacy (despite a rocky start), the Florida governor started firing back on Thursday.
It wasn’t all negative. DeSantis told Eric Bolling of Newsmax that he appreciated much of what Trump accomplished while in office.
“Most of our voters appreciate a lot of the things that President Trump did. I know I do,” DeSantis told Bolling on his show “The Balance” on Thursday.
“He’s been attacking me a lot, but I still give him credit for the things that he did well, especially with the economy in the first three years,” he said.
But voters “also understand that you need someone that can serve two terms,” DeSantis told host Eric Bolling. “You need to have somebody that’s going to be able to win and win big. And so I think we have a lot of folks that will consider somebody like me, who has proven to be very strong.”
Take a look —
DESANTIS ON BEATING TRUMP:
While praising Trump for the things he did well, Governor DeSantis lays out the clear message on why his conservative record makes DeSantis the better to choice to lead the country.
DeSantis: "I haven't been a candidate but now we're going to… pic.twitter.com/BHDk34LVac
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) May 26, 2023
DeSantis has also said during a separate radio interview that Trump had “to the left” politically in his attacks.
“I think a lot of what he’s doing is showing everybody that he understands that I’ve got a good chance to beat him,” DeSantis said.
“Honestly, some of his attacks against me… he’s moving to the left. Attacking me, for example, for opposing an immigration amnesty that he supported when he was president for illegal aliens,” he told New Hampshire radio host Jack Heath. “And I did oppose that because I don’t support amnesty.”
Trump’s campaign fired back that DeSantis was previously an enthusiastic supporter of the Trump administration’s approach to illegal immigration and praised the 45th president’s actions frequently.
DeSantis also attacked the Trump administration’s “bloated omnibus spending bills” that added significant debt while in office.
“He also attacked me for voting against one of the bloated omnibus spending bills that he supported as president. And I agree, I don’t think you should do those bloated bills we are 31 trillion in debt,” he told Heath.
“He added almost $8 trillion in debt in just four years as president.”
What are your thoughts? Do you back DeSantis or Trump?
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Who do you back in the early 2024 GOP Primary
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