Former President Donald J. Trump has said that he will not be endorsing Governor Ron DeSantis for re-election this year since his fellow Floridian never asked him to do so. According to his associates, Mr. DeSantis did not go to the Trump event that took place on Sunday in Miami because he was not directly asked to participate.
In politics, it’s not uncommon for egos to be hurt. On the other hand, a schism at the leadership level of a party has seldom ever been so publicly apparent at such a critical juncture. During a rally that took place on Saturday evening in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Mr. Trump gave Mr. DeSantis one of the nicknames that has become synonymous with him: Ron DeSanctimonious.
Their increasing hostilities were on full display for everyone to see on Sunday, when they held competing campaign rallies in the state of Florida only two days before voting in the 2022 midterm elections is scheduled to end. While Mr. Trump campaigned with Senator Marco Rubio and other Florida Republicans in South Florida, Mr. DeSantis made his case for re-election at a series of events around the west coast of the state.
However, the collateral damage from their impasse looms as a distraction for their party in the final days of the midterm elections, and it could threaten deeper divisions among Republicans as they work toward retaking the White House in 2024.
Mr. Trump has been promising his followers, both publicly and in private conversations, that he will soon launch another run for the presidency. Mr. DeSantis is widely seen as the leading alternative for the Republican nomination.
The 76-year-old former host of “The Apprentice” and the 44-year-old lawyer who has positioned himself to take over as master are the most popular politicians in the refashioned Republican Party.
Mr. DeSantis was a largely quiet backbencher for six years in Congress until his underdog campaign for governor in 2018 was buoyed by Mr. Trump’s backing. The former president has long claimed a sort of ownership interest in the emergence of Mr. DeSantis.
But Mr. Trump’s generosity comes with strings attached, and according to individuals who are close to the former president, he has often expressed amazement that Mr. DeSantis hasn’t shown a sufficient level of fealty to the president.
The put-down that Mr. Trump used on Saturday was one of the disparaging nicknames that Mr. Trump has been informally trying out with his friends and advisors in reference to Mr. DeSantis. When Roger Stone, a longtime Trump advisor, used the moniker for the former president in a post that he made on October 27 on Mr. Trump’s social media website, Truth Social, it gave the impression that he was testing out the nickname for the previous president.
Mr. Trump has said that he does not want to criticise the governor of Florida in a too forceful manner before the midterm elections. However, some individuals who are close to him have said that the choice to portray Mr. DeSantis as being hypocritically religious became more entrenched when the governor’s team published a video on Friday with the intention of imbuing his campaign with a feeling of the supernatural.
The renowned “So God Made a Farmer” speech given by radio broadcaster Paul Harvey in the 1970s served as the inspiration for the 96-second black-and-white movie that cites God ten times.
The original intent of the statement, which was later recycled by Ram Trucks for a commercial that aired during the Super Bowl in 2013, was to emphasise how important farming is. Casey DeSantis, Mr. DeSantis’s wife, released the version that supports Mr. DeSantis’s political brand.
After the event, Mary Bishop, a retiree from Sun City Center who is 73 years old, expressed her displeasure at the fact that Donald Trump had criticised Ron DeSantis. She said that she had voted for Mr. Trump twice, but that she would vote for Mr. DeSantis in 2024.
She said that there is a need for someone who is able to unite people of all races and beliefs and who would not foster an environment that encourages such division. “Trump usually uses the same playbook,” said one commentator.
In Miami, Mr. Trump lavished praise on “the outstanding” Senator Marco Rubio, referred to him as a buddy, and expressed confidence that the people of Florida would vote him back into office.
Mr. Trump continued by saying, “You’re going to re-elect Ron DeSantis as your governor.”
During his 90-minute address, which was packed with complaints, Mr. Trump attacked Democrats for being weak on crime and bragged about Hispanic votes migrating toward the Republican Party. The sole mention of his probable opponent in the 2024 election was this one sentence.