Former president Trump announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president in November, 2022, and on Saturday, he hit the campaign trail in two early primary states, South Carolina and New Hampshire.
In South Carolina, Trump stressed that this campaign will be about issues and about getting America back on track.
He also weighed in on the insanity of the progressive left’s push to ban gas stoves, on the results of progressive policing and crime policies, men competing in women’s sports, and a number of other issues important to the American people.
In an unfortunate CNN interview, apparently aboard a plane, Trump took some shots at Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Oddly, he called DeSantis “disloyal” if he decides to run but told Nikki Haley—who actually worked in his administration—that “she should do it.”
On Saturday, during his first major campaign swing to New Hampshire and South Carolina, Trump took credit again for helping elevate DeSantis during his 2018 bid for governor, saying “Ron would have not been governor if it wasn’t for me.”“So when I hear he might run, I consider that very disloyal,” Trump said.While taking aim at DeSantis, Trump told reporters aboard his plane that Nikki Haley – who served as his ambassador to the United Nations – called him in recent days to inform him that she is considering launching a 2024 presidential bid.“I talked to her for a little while, I said, ‘Look, you know, go by your heart if you want to run,’” Trump said. “She’s publicly said that ‘I would never run against my president, he was a great president.’”Trump said he told Haley that she “should do it.”Haley, who recently relocated her top aides to Charleston, is said to be weighing the timing of a campaign launch at this point, not wanting to be the first one to take on Trump by herself. In 2021, she said she would not challenge Trump if he ran again for the White House in 2024.
In addition to this strange double standard on “loyalty,” Trump also accused DeSantis of “rewriting history” regarding the covid pandemic.
CNN continues:
“There are Republican governors that did not close their states,” Trump told reporters while aboard his plane. “Florida was closed for a long period of time.”“They’re trying to rewrite history,” he added. CNN has reached out to DeSantis for comment.In March 2020, the Florida governor issued an executive order closing bars and nightclubs, urging people to follow US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to limit gatherings on beaches to no more than 10 people. By that September, DeSantis signed an order clearing restaurants and bars to fully open, which drew criticism from public health officials due to the Covid-19 spike that fall.Trump defended his management of the pandemic, saying he left decisions to governors.“I had governors that decided not to close a thing and that was up to them,” he said. The former president also took aim at DeSantis’ shifting posture on vaccines, saying the Florida governor had “changed his tune a lot.”That claim comes after DeSantis called on state lawmakers this month to make permanent existing penalties for companies that require all employees get the Covid-19 vaccination.
DeSantis has not responded to these statements, but then, he has not (yet?) declared his candidacy. His Twitter feed is full of news about his policies to maintain law and order in Florida, to improve K-12 education in the Sunshine State, and the like.
Trump continuing to spout off about a fellow Republican who is not only wildly popular but also an effective executive is creating quite the stir on Twitter, as you can imagine.
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