Former President Donald Trump said in an interview transcript published Sunday that if he enters the 2024 presidential race, he does not expect to run against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, adding that he’d “beat him” if he did choose to run.
Trump said he believed “most people would drop out” if he entered the presidential race, including the Florida governor, who has been a staunch supporter of Trump during his administration. The former president’s comments were made in an interview with Yahoo Finance set for publication Monday.
“If I faced him, I’d beat him like I would beat everyone else,” Trump said.
Trump boasted confidence in his ability to receive the Republican nomination again if he ran in 2024 but said he was not ready to commit this early.
“If I do run, I think that I’ll do extremely well,” he said, saying that he based his predictions on polling and “enthusiasm” from voters.
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DeSantis rose in popularity among Republicans last year largely due to his style of governing, in which he allowed residents of the state to exercise personal judgment about pandemic guidelines, steering away from mandatory mask mandates.
The governor of Florida recently knocked any rumors about a 2024 presidential bid, saying “speculation about me is purely manufactured” and reiterating that his main focus was on governing the Sunshine State.
Trump has lauded DeSantis’s work as a governor and has played into people’s speculation that he and DeSantis would make a good campaign duo, subbing out former Vice President Mike Pence for DeSantis.
“They like that. … I’m just saying what I read and you read. They love that ticket,” Trump said in April.
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According to recent polls, with data excluding Trump, DeSantis appears to be leading the pack of 2024 hopefuls.
Polling in July included Trump in the ranks and showed the former president easily garnered half of the Republican support base.
