Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ruled out being former president Donald Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election, as he prepares to launch his own White House run.
Newsmax host Eric Bolling asked Mr DeSantis if he would consider being Mr Trump’s vice presidential nominee on Thursday evening, which the governor rebuffed.
“I think I'm probably more of an executive guy,” Mr DeSantis said. “I think that you want to 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 am best suited for.”
Many conservatives have hoped Mr DeSantis would stage a run against the former president after he won re-election in Florida by almost 20 points last year, while many candidates Mr Trump endorsed fell short in the 2022 midterm elections.
Mr Trump has reacted to Mr DeSantis’s growing popularity by testing a number of insults for him, repeatedly calling him “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
The governor has largely ignored Mr Trump’s barbs in the past, but this week he took a slight dig at the fact the former president faces a potential indictment for allegedly paying adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about a sexual liaison.
“Look, I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I can’t speak to that,” Mr DeSantis said earlier this week.
That caused many of Mr Trump’s supporters and the former president himself to lash out and to imply that Mr DeSantis may face salacious allegations himself one day, and posted a photo of a younger Mr DeSantis drinking with students while he was a teacher at an elite school.
“Ron DeSanctimonious will probably find out about FALSE ACCUSATIONS & FAKE STORIES sometime in the future, as he gets older, wiser, and better known, when he’s unfairly and illegally attacked by a woman, even classmates that are ‘underage’ (or possibly a man!). I’m sure he will want to fight these misfits just like I do!” Mr Trump posted on Truth Social.
-Oliver O’Connell contributed to this report.
