Here's The Beef Between Ron DeSantis And Donald Trump & Why All Eyes Are On The 2024 Election
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former President of the United States Donald Trump have an ongoing feud that dates back a few years, and now all eyes are on the 2024 election.
Trump announced he would run again in November 2022... well, that is, if he doesn't get indicted over looming charges of falsifying business documents connected to hush money allegedly paid to his accuser, Stormy Daniels, an adult entertainment actress.
The payments were reportedly made during his 2016 campaign, according to AP News.
Governor DeSantis has teased his potential 2024 candidacy but has not yet made any official announcements, as reported by the Washington Post. Since then, he has also had a lot to say about his potential opponent's alleged criminal acts, which further fuelled the political beef.
So, what exactly started it all?
It all starts back in September 2021.
Governor Ron DeSantis started gaining popularity during his first run as governor in the state of Florida, and a report from Vanity Fair stated that a close confidant of Donald Trump admitted that the former president "hates" DeSantis.
Since DeSantis became governor, many people have looked to him as a rival for Trump in the 2024 elections. The feud was just beginning.
Next, we move on to November 2022.
The former president started to campaign again, hoping to win back his constituents' vote for his 2024 run. At a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, back in November, he coined the Florida governor's new nickname, "Ron DeSanctimonious." The word "sanctimonious," according to the Oxford Dictionary, means "making a show of being morally superior to other people."
As DeSantis campaigned to be Florida's governor for a second term, Trump released a statement, calling him an "average Republican governor with great public relations," BBC reported.
Flash forward to the present, 2023.
In January, Governor DeSantis began his second term as Florida's governor. A month later, Trump reposted a picture to a social media app, Truth Social, of Ron and three unidentified women. The text on the photo reads that he is "grooming high school girls with alcohol as a teacher."
Trump's post amplified the graphic and read, "that’s not Ron, is it? He would never do such a thing!"
Now, it was DeSantis' turn to bite back.
Donald Trump faces a potential indictment for an incident in 2016. Adult entertainment actress Stormy Daniels accused Trump of paying her with hush money, and he allegedly falsified business records in connection to the payment during his campaign in 2016.
During a press conference, Governor Ron DeSantis was asked about it.
"I don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair, I just, I can't speak to that," he said.
However, he alludes that the Manhattan District Attorney has been pushing a political agenda and downgraded crimes at "the expense of the rule of law and public safety."
The governor recently took shots at the former president in a Piers Morgan interview, reported by USA Today. He says Trump's nicknames, "DeSanctiminous" and "meatball Ron," should be substituted with "winner."
Another potential tease to the 2024 race...
Ron DeSantis' proposed tax plan.