<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655824345888,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000176-7927-d2c7-af7f-7dbf0cfe0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655824345888,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000176-7927-d2c7-af7f-7dbf0cfe0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_46070897", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"964077"} }); ","_id":"00000181-86d2-df44-ad8b-c7fa64920000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedFormer President Donald Trump said Monday that he is “very responsible” for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s political ascendancy amid mounting speculation that DeSantis is displacing the ex-president as the GOP’s leading presidential contender in 2024.
Trump maintained in the Newsmax interview that he had a “good relationship” with DeSantis despite rumors of a feud, with the former president even suggesting he’d beat the Florida Republican in a presidential primary. But Trump downplayed the notion that the governor would seek the GOP’s 2024 nod, claiming he hasn’t “seen” any signs that DeSantis “wants to run.”
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“But I was very responsible for him getting elected,” the former president added.
The Florida governor’s popularity continues to grow among Republican voters, and chatter that DeSantis will seek the presidency in 2024 is growing louder. DeSantis has already raked in more than $100 million this cycle, an astronomical sum for what is expected to be a relatively easy reelection as Florida governor.
The governor has also made headlines for beating Trump in recent straw polls of grassroots Republican voters, including a high-profile win at the Western Conservative Summit earlier this month.
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Trump has made clear that he expects DeSantis to yield to him if he decides to mount another White House bid, which he has teased since he departed the White House in January 2021.
