ORLANDO, Fla. — Veterans of the 2016 Republican presidential primaries remember how Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio attempted to remain above the fray when it came to taking on Donald Trump directly, only to respond too little, too late to stave off defeat.
Now, as yet another Florida politician, Gov. Ron DeSantis, lays the groundwork to challenge Trump in the 2024 GOP race, those veterans say the governor has choices to make about how soon and how hard to fire back against Trump’s almost continuous attacks.
“This is exactly what Trump did to every single candidate in 2016 who showed any sort of momentum,” said Alex Conant, co-founder of Firehouse Strategies and the communications director for U.S. Sen. Rubio’s presidential campaign. “He just started attacking and then didn’t let up. And in 2016, nobody figured out how to effectively counter it.”
