Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis fretted Thursday that a conviction of his chief rival Donald Trump will spell doom for the Republican Party’s 2024 chances — before reaffirming his commitment to back Trump if he is the GOP nominee.
“It would be fatal in a general election,” DeSantis told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” of a Trump conviction. “I don’t think the party should nominate [him] in that situation.”
“However, I signed the pledge. I’m a Republican. I don’t think it’s going to come to that,” he added. “The reality is, as I signed it, and that’s what I did.”
Like the other 2024 Republican aspirants who participated in the party’s debates, DeSantis signed a pledge to back the eventual nominee, whoever that may be.
Trump, who has skipped the only two debates conducted so far, has not signed that pledge.
The 77-year-old former president is facing 91 criminal counts spanning four different indictments related to his attempts to remain in power after his 2020 election loss, hush money payments, alleged attempts to overturn Georgia election results, and national security document hoarding.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all pending charges against him and professed his innocence.
Currently, the first criminal case slated to head to trial is the four-count indictment in the federal 2020 election case
That trial is set to begin March 4, one day before the Super Tuesday primary contests.
DeSantis previously decried the onslaught of charges against Trump, while simultaneously underscoring his electoral liabilities.
The Trump camp responded by mocking DeSantis’ decision to appear on the reliably liberal cable channel.
“The transformation is complete. Tiny D has gone full Never Trump, campaigning for Republican primary votes on Morning Joe/MSDNC,” Trump adviser Jason Miller wrote on X in response to DeSantis’ remarks.
Trump was a regular guest on “Morning Joe” early in the 2016 election cycle, but soured on him after his call to ban immigration to the US from Muslim countries in December 2015.
DeSantis has been venturing into unfriendly media territory over recent weeks, conducting interviews on networks like CNN and MSNBC ashe battles for the party nod.
Trump is the runaway Republican frontrunner with a 45.9 percentage-point edge over DeSantis nationally, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate.
The 45-year-old Sunshine State governor has long had a lock on second place, though former South Carolina governor and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has gained momentum in recent polls.
Haley also said that she intends to uphold the loyalty pledge to back the GOP nominee next year.
“We all signed a pledge saying that we would vote for the nominee,” Haley told “The Daily Show” on Wednesday. “We can’t keep living this way. We can’t do that.”
“I’ll tell you right now, at this point, anybody would be better than Joe Biden, but it’s going to be me,” she went on. “And I’m going to make sure that we go and do what we need to to get American families back on track again.”
On Thursday, Trump scored a key Sunshine State endorsement from Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.).
Republican presidential aspirates are set to square off in the third GOP debate on Nov. 8 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami.
Trump is scheduled to campaign about 10 miles to the northwest in nearby Hialeah, Fla.
“We are not going to win as Republicans, Joe, by adopting the strategy that Biden did, being in the basement during the 2020 campaign. That’s effectively what Donald Trump’s doing,” DeSantis told “Morning Joe.”
“Donald Trump is perceived by Republicans as a fighter, but I also want to win for people. That means winning elections, but also means winning on these policy fights.”