DeSantis accuses Trump of ‘massive, massive gaslighting’ on Covid-19 response

The presidential hopeful said his Republican nominee rival had ‘dropped the ball’ during the global pandemic

Ron DeSantis has hit out at Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic while in office, accusing the former president of “massive, massive gaslighting”.

The presidential hopeful said his Republican nominee rival had “dropped the ball” during what he described as “the number one crisis” that Mr Trump had faced as commander-in-chief.

Mr DeSantis faced off against Nikki Haley onstage for the final Republican debate ahead of the Iowa Caucuses, in Des Moines on Wednesday night. Mr Trump – still the clear frontrunner – once again did not participate.

Speaking to MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Thursday, Mr DeSantis discussed the debate, his standing in the polls, as well as comments previously made by Mr Trump about his handling of the coronavirus crisis.

In March 2020 the former president had described Mr DeSantis as a “great guy” despite, according to Mr DeSantis, heavily critcising his response to the pandemic in the state of Florida.

“This is the number one crisis he faced as president and he chose to defer to [former chief medical adviser] Anthony Fauci,” he said.

DeSantis faced off against Nikki Haley onstage for the final debate in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday (REUTERS)

“They were running commercials in October 2020 for his re-election, bragging that he followed everything that Fauci said and then… on Donald Trump’s last day in office he gave Fauci a special commendation.

“He forcibly shut down Florida’s cruise industry, they shut down churches on military bases and they were pressuring states.”

Mr DeSantis highlighted the decision by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to reopen the state, for which Mr Trump had gone “to the White House podium and attacked him”.

“[Trump] was saying schools should be closed,” he said.

The Florida governor continued: “They attacked me in the summer of 2020, when Florida’s first Covid wave [hit] and we had schools and businesses open, so it’s massive, massive gaslighting.

“He was able to do that I guess on Fox with no pushback … but the reality is he knows he dropped the ball on [Covid].”

During the debate on Wednesday night Mr DeSantis and Ms Haley clashed fiercely, accusing each other multiple times of lying, as they covered topics including Ukraine, Israel, abortion, energy policy and the economy.