Governor Ron DeSantis (R., Fl.) told Piers Morgan in an interview that he believes he can prevail over Donald Trump and lead the Republican Party to victory in the 2024 presidential election over President Joe Biden.
“I can win [the] presidency,” the Florida governor told Piers Morgan in an exclusive interview that aired Tuesday afternoon.
Although DeSantis alluded to challenging Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, the governor explained that much of his attention will be geared towards President Biden.
“If I were to run, I’m running against Biden,” DeSantis said. “Ultimately you know the guy I’m gonna focus on is Biden because I think he’s failed the country. I think the country wants a change. I think they want a fresh start and a new direction and so we’ll be very vocal about that.”
Asked his thoughts about Trump’s attempts at mudslinging, such as deriding him as “Ron DeSanctimonious,” the Florida governor dismissed the rhetorical flourishes as mere distractions.
“To me, it’s just background noise,” DeSantis said. “It’s not important for me to be fighting with people on social media. It’s not accomplishing anything for the people I represent. So, we really just focus on knocking out victories, day after day, and if I got involved in all the under tow I would not be able to be an effective Governor. So, I don’t think it’s something that makes sense for me.”
DeSantis recently came to the aid of the former president who is facing a potential indictment for allegedly paying Stormy Daniels, a former adult film actress, hush money ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” DeSantis said on Monday during a press conference. “The Manhattan District Attorney is a Soros-funded prosecutor…That’s an example of pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office.”
However, the Florida governor also threw a jab at Donald Trump confessing: “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 just, I can’t speak to that.”
The war of words amongst Republican presidential hopefuls has intensified in recent weeks with DeSantis finding himself in the crosshairs.
On Monday, the former Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal taking DeSantis to task for downplaying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “territorial dispute” while speaking with Tucker Carlson of Fox News.
“They say the U.S. shouldn’t care about Ukraine because this war isn’t our fight. Some call it a mere ‘territorial dispute.’ They say we should ignore Ukraine so we can focus on China. This has it backward. China loses if Ukraine wins,” Haley wrote.
Senators Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) as well as former vice-president Mike Pence joined in condemning the statements.
“I believe the United States needs to continue to demand the free world join us in giving the courageous fighters in Ukraine the resources they need to repel the Russian invasion,” Pence, who many expect to join the presidential contest shortly, said.