Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) responded to questions regarding former President Trump — from the president’s forthcoming announcement to his recent “attacks” of the governor — but DeSantis kept his nose clean, refusing to criticize the president and instead taking aim at the establishment media and woke corporations while dismissing everything else as “just noise.”
DeSantis was asked about Trump’s announcements and what one questioner described as the former president’s “less than flattering” remarks about him. The governor, however, simply explained that “incoming fire” is just the nature of the job.
“One of the things I’ve learned like and learned in this job is when you’re doing, when you’re leading, when you’re getting things done, you take incoming fire, that’s just the nature of it,” he began, before turning to the corporate media’s issues with his leadership.
“I roll out of bed in the morning, I’ve got corporate media outlets that have a spasm — just the fact that I’m getting up in the morning and it’s constantly attacking. And this is just what’s happened. I don’t think any governor got attacked, more particularly, by corporate media than me over my four year term,” DeSantis said, explaining that one learns that it is all “just noise.”
Former President Donald Trump speaks with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during an event at the Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center on October 03, 2019 in The Villages, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“And really what matters is are you leading? Are you getting in front of issues? Are you delivering results for people? Are you standing up for folks? And if you do that, then none of that stuff matters,” DeSantis said. “And that’s what we’ve done. We focused on results and leadership.”
The governor added that people should check the “scoreboard” from last Tuesday, deeming it “the greatest Republican victory in the history of the state of Florida.”
“And it wasn’t just the best governor victory, of course, it was that, but we swept in. We swept in super majorities in the Florida Legislature. We have 85 Republicans out of 120 in our state house, we’ve never had that many before,” he said, further detailing the Sunshine State’s victories.
“We have 28 senators out of 40 that are Republicans — never had that many,” he said, also pointing to school board victories as well as congressional victories, going from 16 Republican members of the U.S. House from Florida to 20.
“At the end of the day, I think people respond to the leadership. They respond to the results, and so that’s why — even though I know anytime I do anything, you’re over the target, you know, you’re gonna face incoming — that’s just the nature of it,” he continued.
“But that’s not ultimately what matters to people. What matters to people is are you standing up for them? Are you leading, and are you getting things done? And we are,” he added.
WATCH:
Gov. DeSantis Launches Initiatives to Support Florida’s Military Families https://t.co/1eAn0UW51I
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) November 15, 2022
When asked about the concerns between Trump and DeSantis and how the GOP can come together, DeSantis added that “some of this stuff gets a little bit overdone.”
While Trump has turned up the dial on DeSantis, deeming him Ron “DeSanctimonious,” he referred to DeSantis as a “fine guy” during an interview with Fox News Digital.
“I don’t know if he is running. I think if he runs, he could hurt himself very badly. I really believe he could hurt himself badly,” Trump said at the time. “I think he would be making a mistake, I think the base would not like it — I don’t think it would be good for the party.”‘
However, Trump later went on to criticize DeSantis on TruthSocial, expressing frustration that the governor had not overtly committed to not running against him.
“And now, Ron DeSanctimonious is playing games! The Fake News asks him if he’s going to run if President Trump runs, and he says, ‘I’m only focused on the Governor’s race, I’m not looking into the future.’ Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s really not the right answer…” he said in a statement and TruthSocial post.
Notably, Trump also “retruthed” a post from a user, who stated that Trump “masterfully started this fake ‘fight’ with DeSantis to reveal the Deep State RINO scum and puppets.”
