Florida governor Ron DeSantis responded on Tuesday to the series of attacks leveled against him in recent weeks by President Donald Trump, a former political ally turned rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, urging political observers to “go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night.”
Just before Election Day, Trump taunted DeSantis by reading a poll that showed the former president ahead in a potential Republican primary matchup, calling him “Ron DeSanctimonious.” He doubled down on the new nickname after DeSantis’s landslide victory, deeming him an “average” governor, including in his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has been credited with turning DeSantis into a contender for the White House.
“Ron came to me desperate in 2017 — he was politically dead,” asserted Trump, whose endorsement in the Republican gubernatorial primary helped him secure the nomination, and then the governor’s mansion. He also accused DeSantis of “playing games” by not denying that he would seek the GOP nomination in 2024.
Asked about Trump’s comments on Tuesday, DeSantis replied “One of the things I’ve learned in this job is when you’re leading, when you’re getting things done, yeah you take incoming fire — that’s just the nature of it.” He went on to note that because of the press’s relentless focus on undermining his administration, he’s learned to tune out undeserved criticism.
“All that’s just noise,” said DeSantis, “really what matters is: ‘Are you leading? Are you getting in front of issues? Are you delivering results for people? And are you standing up for folks?’ If you do that, then none of that stuff matters.”
“At the end of the day, I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night,” he continued.
DeSantis says to look at the "scoreboard" when asked about Trump's attacks on him in the wake of the midterm elections. pic.twitter.com/LDZopUZfIR
— National Review (@NRO) November 15, 2022
While DeSantis enjoyed what he called “the greatest Republican victory in the history of the state of Florida,” during the midterms, the GOP writ large, and especially Republicans endorsed by Trump during their primaries — including Kari Lake, Blake Masters, Doug Mastriano, Mehmet Oz, Joe Kent, and John Gibbs — all fell short in their general election bids. DeSantis did not directly name Trump in responding to the question.
DeSantis cruised to reelection last week, besting his Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist, by over 20 points. Rick Scott, DeSantis’s Republican predecessor, won his two terms in office by a combined total of four points.
A smattering of post-midterm polls have showed DeSantis running ahead of Trump in both states of importance such as Iowa, New Hampshire, Florida, Georgia, and Texas, as well as nationally.