Trump says ‘damaged’ DeSantis is ‘desperately trying to get out’ of 2024 race

Ex-president continues to batter top rival as he cements frontrunner status

Donald Trump was back at it again on Truth Social over the weekend.

The ex-president is working to secure his victory in the Republican nominating contest before it even officially begins, swiping at any rival that dares to pull into competitive territory. At present, that largely means gratuitous attacks aimed at Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, who is the only other Republican consistently pulling double-digit poll numbers.

On Saturday, Mr Trump claimed that the Florida governor was now seeking to depart the presidential race after Mr DeSantis’s poll numbers dropped somewhat in the wake of the ex-president being indicted on state and federal charges.

“Ron DeSanctimonious is desperately trying to get out of the Presidential race, while at the same time saving face for 2028, where he has been greatly damaged,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He went on to suggest that money transferred over from the governor’s 2022 reelection bid to his presidential campaign may have been done so illegally — though the governor hasn’t been accused of committing any crimes by any credible authority.

It was the kind of attack that Mr Trump has been lobbing at the governor for months – to little response. Mr DeSantis has largely refrained from attacking his rival in the 2024 contest, apparently fearful of alienating the Republican base in a way that Mr Trump does not worry about.

The Florida governor’s campaign for the 2024 nomination is also complicated by the entrance of a number of Republican rivals such as Nikki Haley, Sen Tim Scott and others, all of whom are thought to be splitting the vote share of Republicans who have grown tired of the former president.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, has seen his own poll numbers grow amid his two criminal indictments, with many Republicans seemingly taking his word that he is innocent of the crimes for which he is charged and agreeing that he is the subject of a “witch hunt”.