Can DeSantis salvage his relationship with Trump?
Marc Caputo of Politico peened a story recently about President Donald Trump being very angry and disappointed with Ron DeSantis who won the 2018 Republican Florida gubernatorial nomination based almost completely because of his strong support from the president. The Politico story quotes multiple sources say that President Trump as seeing DeSantis as being profoundly disloyal for distancing himself from the president’s assertion that the Hurricane Maria death toll of nearly 3,000 lives lost in Puerto Rico, was inflated by Democrats for political purposes.
Meanwhile, both DeSantis and present Gov. Rick, who is challenging Democrat Bill Nelson for his United State Senate broke with the president on the Hurricane Maria issue because of the large Puerto Rican population in the Sunshine State. Neither candidate can afford to lose any support given that they both locked in very tight races.
The latest polling data shows Democrat Andrew Gillum leading DeSantis by six points in the governors race. While Scoot and incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson in a virtual tie in U.S. Senate race.
It would be political suicide to side with the president on this issue in Florida and both came out in strong support Puerto Rico.
DeSantis issued a statement on the Hurricane Maria issue.
“Ron DeSantis is committed to standing with the Puerto Rican community, especially after such a tragic loss of life,” his spokesman Stephen Lawson said in an email. “He doesn’t believe any loss of life has been inflated. Ron is focused on continuing to help our Puerto Rican neighbors recover and create opportunities for those who have moved to Florida succeed.”
As for Gov. Scott he took to Twitter to voice his response.
I disagree with @POTUS– an independent study said thousands were lost and Gov. Rosselló agreed. I’ve been to Puerto Rico 7 times & saw devastation firsthand. The loss of any life is tragic; the extent of lives lost as a result of Maria is heart wrenching. I’ll continue to help PR
— Rick Scott (@ScottforFlorida) September 13, 2018
The question is will DeSantis followers who are hardcore Trump backers abandon him for breaking with the president? Politico reported that one person closes to the president described the situation as a “divorce.”
So, for the moment things remain an in a bit of a state of flux News Talk Florida has confirmed that as of now President Donald Trump has no scheduled plans to visit Florida before the midterms. Clearly that of course can as we are slightly over a month away from election day.
DeSantis can talk some comfort in knowing that Trump does not want Florida to have a Democratic governor. So, he will be watching the poll numbers and as long as DeSantis is in close race he might make a trip to either Jacksonville or Pensacola where he can stump for DeSantis as well as candidates in either Georgia or Alabama.
According to multiple media outlets during a rally yesterday DeSantis dismissed the Politico report and was admit that he and Trump were still good. Wednesday DeSantis, told a press gathering that his relationship with President Trump remained the same when asked about the Politico report at a news conference.
“I don’t think anything’s changed. I think we are good,” DeSantis said. He went on to drive home the point that he believes President Trump would still campaign for him, according to a report from Florida Politics.
Well drama continues in the run up to the midterms and there will be a great deal more to this story, as the days tick off toward November. Hey, it politics in Florida did you really think there would not be a soap opera to the very end.
