While teasing his expected 2024 presidential run at a rally for Pennsylvania’s top-ticket Republicans, former President Donald Trump waded into what could be his most contentious rivalry of the next campaign cycle.
Trump christened Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of the most popular Republicans in the country, with one of his famous epithets: Ron “DeSanctimonious.” The jab sets up what could turn into the primary contest for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination.
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The former president bragged that over 70% of Republicans surveyed in a Rasmussen poll in September wanted him president again, while only 10% supported DeSantis. Trump is expected to make a formal announcement of his White House bid on Nov. 14.
“Everybody, I promise you in the next very, very, very short period of time you’re going to be so happy,” he told the crowd of Republican supporters in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
Trump changed the subject because he said he wanted to keep the focus on Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz and gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, who he was there to stump for ahead of the midterms elections on Tuesday.
“And one of the reasons I don’t want to do that right now — because I’d like to do it — but you know what, I really mean this. I want to have the focus tonight be your Dr. Oz and Doug Mastriano,” he said, adding, “Very, very soon. You’re gonna be surprised at how soon, but first, we have to win a historic victory for Republicans in November.”
Earlier in his two-hour speech, Trump predicted a “giant red wave” in order to “stop the destruction of our country and save the American dream.”
Trump’s rally occurred in Latrobe right after President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama wrapped a competing rally for Oz and Mastriano’s Democratic rivals in Philadelphia.
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“This crowd is so loud I think they can hear us in Latrobe,” Biden said in his opening remarks, taking a shot a Trump. In his opening, Trump claimed his crowd size was bigger than the Democratic rally, saying, “They had a little rally here. Nobody showed up for their rally.”
The Senate race between Oz and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman could determine which party controls the Senate after the midterm elections. Republicans need a net gain of just one seat.
