DeSantis Against Trump’s Personal Attacks Despite Difficult Campaign – Rolling Stone

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Ron DeSantis said Sunday he’s not interested in launching personal attacks on 2024 Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, even as the Florida governor continues to trail the former president by a wide margin in the polls.

Appearing on Fox News’ MediaBuzz, DeSantis, whose campaign recently let go of about a dozen staffers, was asked how his approach to going after Trump contrasted with someone like former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

“Christie says he’s the only one going straight at Trump – insult for insult, calling him a coward, etc. – and the rest of you are just dancing around in fear of offending him or his supporters,” said anchor Howard Kurtz. “Does he have a point?”

DeSantis responded that he didn’t “make insults.”

“I think just getting into this insult game turns off voters. It’s not something I want to do,” he explained, adding that he has not shied away from criticizing Trump on policy matters such as southern border wall, the national debt, and his handling of Covid and the resulting lockdowns. In an appearance on Fox News last week, for example, DeSantis accused Trump of “colluding with big tech” to censor a story about Hunter Biden.

Ron DeSantis fires Donald Trump on policy:

“He promised to drain the swamp. It got worse. He didn’t drain the swamp. He promised to pay Mexico for a border wall. They built, like, 50 miles of wall. There’s still huge expanses there. Said he said he was going to pic.twitter.com/w3KviDc2D5

— Scott Morefield (@SKMorefield) July 16, 2023

“I’ve been very blunt, but I have no interest in personally attacking Donald Trump or any of these other candidates,” he said. “I think we need to rise above and just focus on the issues.”

DeSantis trails Trump by about 30 percentage points nationally, according to the FiveThirtyEight polling average. In Iowa, the latest poll shows Trump by 23 points.

DeSantis, whose performance has so far worried conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch, as reported by Rolling Stone, has continued to deny that he let Trump build a narrative about him before he formally took office. in the GOP primary. Trump had no problem bashing DeSantis, saying in early May that he “needs a personality transplant.” Trending

“Did you let Trump define you by waiting too long to respond to his attacks when you were governor and not officially in the race?” Kurtz wondered.

“Not at all,” DeSantis replied. “I think even some of these polls — if you take them for what they’re worth — they say I have the highest favorability among Republican voters, and I think they’re wrong. for spending all the money against me.”

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