If he is re-elected in 2024, Donald Trump is going to take “revenge” against his political opponents, federal officials and even former allies like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to Trump’s niece Mary Trump.
On Friday’s episode of her podcast The Mary Trump ShowTrump interviewed a New York University historian Ruth Ben-Ghiatand the pair agreed that strongman-style leaders like Mr. Trump who find themselves in danger of being sued will often continue to seek power to punish their enemies and avoid punishment themselves.
Ms. Ben-Ghiatt believes the former president is particularly resentful of Mr. DeSantis, the most successful Republican who has echoed Mr. Trump’s style and false claims about the 2022 election, because the Florida governor has reaped all the political benefits without facing federal investigations. and impeachment hearings.
“He must be especially upset with Mr. Ron DeSantis, who has learned all his lessons as the most ruthless of them all,” Professor Ben-Gyatt, author Strongmen: Mussolini to the Presentsaid.
“He’s thriving and Trump is in limbo, which increases the chances that he’s going to have to run because he has to come back, shut things down, get revenge,” she added. “That’s how strong they are.”
Mr. Trump supported Mr. DeSantis during his 2018 run for Florida governor, but relations between the two have soured as the former president’s protégé rose to prominence nationally and was seen as Mr. Trump’s only serious rival for the presidential ticket from the Republican Party in 2024.
In a future book with New York Times Correspondent Maggie Haberman, Mr. Trump reports complained that Mr. DeSantis is “fat,” “fake,” and “weepy.” (Mr Trump said the book was inaccurate.)
The former president also reportedly took issue with Mr. DeSantis’ recent highly controversial migrant flights that carried asylum seekers from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, while Mr. Trump, a staunch opponent of immigration, claiming the trick was “his idea”.
As far back as 2021, Mr. Trump has somewhat bluntly stated that he is responsible for Mr. DeSantis’ success.
“Well, I don’t know that he wants to run [in 2024]“You know, I have a good relationship with Ron,” Mr. Trump said the interviewer. “But I was very responsible for his election, as you know.”
The Florida governor, for his part, is also feeling the strain in his relationship with Donald Trump.
“[DeSantis] calls him a televangelist and a moron who has no business running for president,” a former employee told Fair of vanity.
In a detailed profile of the Florida governor, members of his inner circle indicated that Mr. DeSantis would run against Mr. Trump in a hypothetical 2024 primary, though none of them have made their suspected bids for the White House official.
“DeSantis says the only way to defeat Trump is to attack him head-on,” a GOP source told the magazine.. “He says he would have turned to Trump during the debate and said, ‘Why didn’t you fire Fauci? You said you would build a wall, but there is no wall. Why is that?'”
