Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis is stepping up his attacks on Donald Trump, contending that the former President only showed up at the Iowa State Fair last weekend to upstage him.
During an interview on the Guy Benson Show, Ron DeSantis blasted Trump’s attempts to take the spotlight off him in the Hawkeye State, which seems to be the linchpin of the DeSantis strategy in the 2024 race.
“When I was at the Iowa State fair with (Gov.) Kim Reynolds, that’s when they did their counter program. I think he was on the ground for 45 or 50 minutes. I was the only candidate he cared about in Iowa. He came because I was there and he wanted to try to take some of the attention away from us,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis participated in a so-called “Fair Side Chat” with Reynolds Saturday, but Trump upstaged him, including by having his plane fly over the Governor’s photo op cooking pork steaks, and by having a plane with a banner that said “Be Likable, Ron” overhead when the Governor was campaigning.
“He had a very small crowd. He only had a few people show up. It’s a big difference,” Trump told reporters at the Iowa State Fair, as he offered a comparison of the crowd he drew versus that drawn earlier in the day by the Florida Governor.
Trump, who said he had a “record crowd,” was accompanied to Iowa by various Florida members of Congress who have endorsed him, including U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Byron Donalds, Matt Gaetz, Anna Paulina Luna, Brian Mast, Cory Mills, Greg Steube and Mike Waltz.
Gaetz, who was a help to DeSantis in 2018’s campaign for Governor, got the best line of all the members of Congress about his erstwhile ally, talking about how burgers were cooked, going from rare to well done, and saying “the most done you can be is Ron DeSantis.”
Matt Gaetz warming up crowd for Trump, saying they grilled burgers rare, medium rare, and well done but “the most done you can be is Ron DeSantis.” pic.twitter.com/VoUIOaV4wR
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) August 12, 2023
