Last Updated on July 28, 2022
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) told Breitbart News he believes it is “highly unlikely” that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) will challenge former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Gaetz asserted his opinion was especially significant due to the close relationship he has with the former President and current Florida governor.
“I would go so far as to say there is no human walking around the earth that has spent more time with both Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis than I have,” the Florida GOP state representative explained.
“I spent a lot of time with the president in the Oval when he was leading our country. I was Governor DeSantis’s transition chairman and I was heavily involved in his campaign,” Gaetz added.
Rep. Gaetz suggested any media coverage that presented Trump and DeSantis as enemies or unfriendly to each other is manufactured to try and divide the Republican Party.
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“What I can tell you is these guys are on the same side. We want to see a Republican Party that is a national party, a winning party, a fighting party. I think President Trump really views DeSantis’s success with great pride, that he took someone who was in Congress and that he saw great potential in and he nurtured that leadership that Ron DeSantis has now displayed to the world. It’s a great working relationship that all three of us have. So, I think it’s largely a media creation that they want to find ways to cause schisms and disagreements in our movement.”
The Florida rep. went on to officially predict Trump would run in 2024 but added that he believes DeSantis will be president one day.
“My expectation is they will both be back in the White House one day. I think Donald Trump will probably be back in the White House in 2024, but for many years I’ve held the view that Ron DeSantis will be president one day and I’ve seen nothing that would in any way dampen that.”
If Donald trump announces his run, DeSantis will recognize the “energy and magnetism” Trump holds and back off from running, Gaetz added.
“I think that if Donald Trump runs, and I do expect him to run, that Ron DeSantis will understand the energy and the magnetism that President Trump brings and will likely do what he always has and that is be one of Donald Trump’s best campaigners and best surrogates.”
Gaetz credited Trump’s solid Florida support to the solid relationship between Trump and DeSantis.
“Look, there is a reason we won Florida by such a large margin—a margin that people never really see in Florida—in the 2020 election for Donald Trump. It was because he and Ron DeSantis were out there hand in glove campaigning together and getting crowds fired up together. Here, they are on different nights but at the same conference—we’re going to need both of those great leaders in order to I think have a catchment apparatus for the energy and enthusiasm that is out there for Republicans. ”
The full interview can be watched here.
Stay tuned to National File for any updates.
