DeSantis Hits Back at Trump, Saying Effective Leaders ‘Take Incoming Fire’

(Bloomberg) -- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has finally taken his own swipe at Donald Trump after enduring a barrage of name-calling and attacks as the two Republicans position themselves for the 2024 presidential campaign.

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“When you’re leading, when you’re getting things done, you take incoming fire, that’s just the nature of it,” DeSantis said in response to questions about Trump’s pending presidential announcement. Trump nicknamed him “Ron DeSanctimonious” and threatened to reveal damaging information about him if he ran against the former president.

“At the end of the day I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night,” DeSantis said at a news conference Tuesday in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Trump plans to announce his third presidential run Tuesday at 9 p.m. from Mar-a-Lago. Meanwhile, DeSantis is widely considered to be eyeing a White House run, but has been coy when asked directly about his ambition.

The Republican Party’s shortcomings in last week’s midterm elections and the crushing defeats Trump’s favored candidates suffered added to calls for Trump to make way for younger candidates, including DeSantis, who won re-election in a landslide.

On Monday, Citadel’s billionaire founder Ken Griffin, one of the GOP’s biggest benefactors, called Trump a “three-time loser” and said he hoped the former president would “see the writing on the wall” and step aside for DeSantis.

The election brought “hugely underwhelming performance” for Republicans, “especially given Biden’s policies,” DeSantis said. “Florida really shows the blueprint of what you can do to not only win, but fundamentally change the overall political terrain at a very pro-freedom direction.”

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