Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) commended Gov. Ron DeSantis’s conservative record but suggested none of it would be possible without the success of former President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, Ron DeSantis joined the 2024 Republican race for the White House, squaring off against Trump, who is currently leading the Florida governor by 33.7% in polling.
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“Ron DeSantis has a great record. I’m a citizen of Florida. I represent the state,” Donalds told Jesse Watters Primetime. ”But at the end of the day, all of his accomplishments, especially if you want to talk about the abortion ban, are not possible without the presidency of Donald Trump.”
“You see, it took somebody to come to Washington and have the courage of his convictions to look this machine, this swamp in the face and say, ‘No, there’s a better way,’” Donalds continued. “It took somebody to actually show all Republicans how you needed to have a spine strong enough to stand up to the media and to the Democrats up here on Capitol Hill.”
Donalds also noted that Trump is a candidate who has former Oval Office experience.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) disagreed, however, and suggested that Trump’s success as a former president was formed in a “continuum.”
“There were ‘Never Cruzers’ before there were ‘Never Trumpers,'” Roy said, referencing Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) 2016 presidential campaign. “The Freedom Caucus existed and was getting created before Donald Trump got to town. This is a continuum, and Gov. DeSantis was here, and he helped start the Freedom Caucus.”
“And now, in Florida, he is doing the hard work of standing up for the people there. And Disney. He took on Disney, the 800-pound gorilla in Florida, when everybody said he shouldn’t. By doing that, he is demonstrating that he can stand up for parents, stand up for families, stand up for hardworking Americans that are getting run over by the corporate establishment,” Roy added. “Gov. DeSantis knows it. He is on the right side of history. He understands the culture war is the key to winning the future of this country, and making sure that we can lead this country forward into a very prosperous future, positively and optimistically.”
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While Roy and Donalds offered their support to a different Republican presidential candidate, they insisted that the Party must unite under one nominee when that time comes.
“This process is going to continue, and when it is done, it is time for our party to unite and get behind our nominee and go win the White House,” Donalds said. “For the people out there who are Republicans, who have had issues with Donald Trump in the past, I will give you two words, and that name is John Fetterman. You see, the Democrats do not care about whether you want to support the nominee or not. They are about victory, and we need to be about the very same thing.”