Former President Donald Trump has made it quite clear that Republican voters will never see him and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on the same election ticket. Trump recently shared his reaction to DeSantis' appearance on the right-wing network Newsmax.
On Thursday, March 23, the Republican governor was asked if he'd consider accepting an offer to be Trump's 2024 running mate if he was asked.
At the time, DeSantis suggested that he was not interested.
“I think I’m probably more of an executive guy,” DeSantis replied. “I think that you wanna be able to do things. That’s part of the reason I got into this job, is because we have action. We’re able to make things happen, and I think that’s probably what I’m best suited for.”
On Friday, March 24, Trump was asked a similar line of questioning. Newsmax host Rob Schmitt asked the former president whether or not DeSantis was an option for vice president.
“Was that ever an option for you?” Schmitt asked Trump.
“No, I never thought of it,” he answered. “I think that we have a lot of great people in the Republican Party. I never thought of it. But you know, some people every once in a while mention it, but that’s about it. No, I think that would be a very unlikely alliance.”
The former president went on to take credit for DeSantis' rise in popularity within the Republican Party.
“Look, I appointed him,” he continued. “He was failing badly in the polls. He was out of politics. He was going to be out of politics and I endorsed him. And he went from a very small number to a very high number.”
Then he pivoted back to attacking the Florida governor.
“If you look at his record, he can’t win because he voted against Social Security,” Trump added. “I mean, he voted against things that are so, so important. Medicare, he voted against Medicare. He wanted to raise the age substantially for people getting Social Security.”