Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is trying to bait Donald Trump into entering the debates by saying the former president has lost his fastball and feels entitled to win the nomination.
Scrambling to make up ground on Mr. Trump, Mr. DeSantis says the front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination “owes it to the voters to show up” on stage Nov. 8 in Miami and in the subsequent debates.
Mr. DeSantis said he’s even “willing to allow him to bring his teleprompter.”
“I think it is a different guy in ‘23 than he was in 2016,” the governor told reporters this week. “I think he was energetic, free-wheeling back then. I think it was really about America first.”
He added, “Now I think he is on the teleprompter. Most of the stuff he is talking about is himself and his issues, and that is not the inspiring message that is going to be able to win the day with the American people.”
Mr. Trump skipped the first two Republican presidential debates, and he signaled he has no plans to participate in future showdowns.
Suggesting it’s inevitable he will win the nomination, he has called on the Republican National Committee to cancel future forums and urge the party to rally around his third bid for the White House.
Mr. Trump has held consistent double-digit polling leads in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two stops on the nomination calendar.
Mr. DeSantis and others in the field are trying to convince voters that it’s time to move on from Mr. Trump.
They warn that Mr. Trump has too much political and legal baggage and is so disliked by voters outside the party that he cannot win a general election against President Biden.
“He has got a certain base of support, but there are way more people that are definitely not going to vote for him,” Mr. DeSantis said on radio’s “Good Morning NH With Jack Heath.” “Donald Trump is running on a lot of the same things he promised in 2016 and didn’t deliver.”
The governor added, “He’s really doing a lot of teleprompter speeches, not getting out there and talking to voters. I think he has a sense of entitlement. You got to earn this thing, and I’m going to earn it in these early states.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.