Former President Donald Trump took credit for the success of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), saying things changed with his support, and it "was like a bomb went off."
In an interview with Fox News's Brett Baier that aired Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his previous claims that DeSantis owed his success to the former president. Trump claimed that his 2024 Republican rival was dead politically until the former president supported him, and he said that deciding to run for president was a betrayal.
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Trump's comments on DeSantis came after Baier interjected after the former president referred to him as "Ron DeSanctimonious," asking why he used that name.
"I got him elected, and I thought it was very disloyal when he said, 'Yes I will run,'" Trump said.
"I got the guy elected," he continued. "He came to see me. Let’s say weeping because he was dead. He was getting out of the race. He was looking for jobs already, probably at law firms or wherever he is going to look. He was totally dead. He ran a horrible, terrible [campaign]."
Trump went on to praise DeSantis's then-opponent, Adam Putnam, and Trump described the competition before his endorsement as "a wipeout." He painted his endorsement as the turning point.
"I said let’s give it a shot. I endorsed him, and it was like a bomb went off," the former president said. "As soon as I endorsed him. He won the primary. It was over. He won by a landslide."
Trump then claimed DeSantis doubted his own campaign, saying he believed he would lose against Democrat Andrew Gillum, but Trump believed otherwise.
"But then I had him to get him past Gillum, who was a rock star," he said. "He was going to be the next president of the United States. He was the biggest guy in the party, him and Stacey Abrams, right? These are the two hottest politicians in the Democratic Party. And Ron said there is no way I can beat him. ... I said you are going to win. He ended up winning."
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Trump explained why he felt so personally slighted by DeSantis's decision to run against him and why his attacks against him began so early.
"Three years later, they asked [DeSantis], 'Are you going to run against the president?' He said, 'I have no comment.' I said, 'No comment?' No comment means is he going to run. I said, 'This guy is going to run,'" Trump said. "And he was dead as a doorknob. I didn’t help him 90%. I helped him 100%. This guy was dead politically; for him to then say, 'I’m going to run against the guy who got me in office'?"