Former President Donald Trump’s surge in the polls after his indictment has sidelined some major Republican donors, who are losing confidence that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis or any other GOP hopeful will displace the former president as the party’s leader.
Just a few months ago, DeSantis loomed as a Trumpslayer — a conservative culture-warrior who had nonetheless won over independent voters in his landslide re-election, with none of the baggage of the former president.
But a series of missteps since the start of the year have given some big donors pause. DeSantis has stumbled with his position on the war in Ukraine, continues to battle the Walt Disney Co. — one of Florida’s most important employers — over his education policies and made a clumsy attack on Trump for allegedly paying hush money to a porn star.
