Trump claims responsibility for DeSantis’s triumph: ‘It was explosive!’

Former President Donald Trump Takes Credit for Gov. Ron DeSantis’s Success

In a recent interview with Fox News’s Brett Baier, former President Donald Trump claimed that Gov. Ron DeSantis owed his success to him. Trump stated that everything changed for DeSantis when he received his support, comparing it to a bomb going off.

Trump’s Impact on DeSantis’s Political Career

According to Trump, DeSantis was politically dead until the former president backed him. Trump expressed his disappointment, considering DeSantis’s decision to run for president as a betrayal.

During the interview, Baier questioned Trump about his use of the name “Ron DeSanctimonious.” Trump responded by saying, “I got him elected, and I thought it was very disloyal when he said, ‘Yes, I will run.'”

Trump continued, “He came to see me, 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 praised DeSantis’s then-opponent, Adam Putnam, and described the competition before his endorsement as a “wipeout.” He emphasized that his endorsement was the turning point in DeSantis’s campaign.

“I said, let’s give it a shot. I endorsed him, and it was like a bomb went off,” Trump said. “As soon as I endorsed him, he won the primary. It was over. He won by a landslide.”

Trump also revealed that DeSantis doubted his own campaign, believing he would lose against Democrat Andrew Gillum. However, Trump had faith in DeSantis’s potential for victory.

“But then I had him to get him past Gillum, who was a rock star,” Trump explained. “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.”

Trump also shared why he felt personally slighted by DeSantis’s decision to run against him and why he began attacking him early on.

“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 recalled. “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’?”

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