A poll published Thursday by the University of New Hampshire shows Trump trailing DeSantis by 12 percentage points among likely voters in the GOP’s presidential primary in the state.
“He won’t be leading, I got him elected,” Trump said,
according to Politico.
Former President Donald Trump said Florida governor Ron DeSantis is trying to rewrite history about the pandemic response and would be 'disloyal' if he ran for president
“There are Republican governors that did not close their states,” Trump said,
according to CNN. “Florida was closed for a long period of time.”
However, DeSantis’ COVID-19 handling was exactly what earned him praise from the right.
In April 2020, DeSantis became one of the last governors in the country to order a statewide lockdown after speaking to Trump,
according to NPR. But by September of that year,
he vowed to not reinstate restrictions, ordered a full reopening of bars and restaurants in the state (defying guidance from public health officials), and banned fines for those who refused to wear a mask or maintain social distancing.
The Florida governor
ordered schools to reopen for in-person learning in August 2020 even as COVID-19 cases were skyrocketing.
DeSantis, in recent months, has
questioned the efficacy of lifesaving COVID-19 shots, given a platform to vaccine skeptics, and even suggested
permanently banning COVID-19 mandates.