Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been watching his campaign flounder… and he’s blaming the indictments against rival candidate Donald Trump.
In a new interview, DeSantis credited the four indictments for helping to “distort” the primary election, and he described former President Trump’s “soft” support as an untested weakness.
David Brody of Christian Broadcasting Network was interviewing DeSantis, and he asked a question about his regrets from the campaign.
Brody asked, “Is there anything you wish [you] would have done?”
“Well, there’s always different things that happen. I would say if I could have one thing change, I wish Trump hadn’t been indicted on any of this stuff. I mean, honestly, I think, from Alvin Bragg on, I’ve criticized the cases. I think someone like Bragg would not have brought that case if it was anyone but Donald Trump. And so he, someone like that, is distorting justice, which is bad. But I also think it distorted the primary.”
Brody interrupted, “Because it’s helped him? Is that what you’re saying?”
DeSantis replied, “Both that, but then also it also just crowded out, I think, so much other stuff. And it’s sucked out a lot of oxygen.”
The Florida governor went on to promote his own record of dismissing progressive prosecutors, and he took issue with Bragg’s campaign for soliciting donations from billionaire George Soros.
“Some of these guys like Bragg, they abuse their power. Incidentally, he’s a Soros-backed prosecutor. I’m the only one in the country [to have] removed two: one from Tampa, one from Orlando,” DeSantis said.
“And it does show you that they view law as an extension of politics, and that gets very, very dangerous when this country goes down that road.”
Brody repeated, “But that’s interesting. You’re saying it made him stronger in a way, and it made him tougher for you and others.”
“I think for the primary, it distorted,” DeSantis said.
“Now, in a general election, I think the Democrats have a plan on this. I think the media has a plan on this. I think if it gets to the point where six months from now Trump’s the presumptive nominee and he’s having to go through all this, they have a plan for how they’re going to ride this out.”
DeSantis has been making other, similar statements about the indictments recently. On Wednesday, DeSantis reportedly described the indictments as a distraction.
“That is not what we want from this election,” he told reporters at a campaign stop in Iowa. “What we want is a referendum on the failures of the Biden administration.”
Trump himself has treated the indictments as a source of strength. The Trump campaign has sold T-shirts with his mugshot on them. Days before the indictment in Georgia, Trump told supporters that he needed “one more indictment” to harden the support from his base.
However, DeSantis is still characterizing Trump’s support as “soft.”
“Trump does, obviously, have a certain segment that’s very strong. A lot of these people, though that come up in these polls, a lot of them are soft. I mean, they remember him, they liked his policies, but they’re willing to vote for somebody else,” DeSantis said.
“Obviously, Trump could win the primary. I’m not convinced he could win the general. I can.”
DeSantis made similar remarks about former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, another rival candidate in the GOP’s presidential primary.
“She’s not going to be able to win Iowa. I can,” DeSantis said, referring to Haley. “You have to be able to appeal to core Republicans and conservatives. I think she really represents more of the establishment type of thinking.”
In many polls, DeSantis is set to finish second to Trump in Iowa, although he’s now polling well behind both Trump and Haley in New Hampshire.
Take a look —
JUST IN: Ron DeSantis tells me his one regret about running in the GOP Primary this year:
Ron DeSantis: "I would say if I could have one thing change, I wish Trump hadn't been indicted on any of this stuff…it distorted the primary…it also just crowded out, I think so much… pic.twitter.com/zrADFUmiDq
— David Brody (@DBrodyReports) December 21, 2023