Some of former President Donald Trump’s conservative allies in the media are telling him to back off from attacks on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose landslide victory in Florida has further elevated him into the national spotlight.
Without mentioning Mr. Trump by name, conservative talk show Mark Levin warned off the critics, calling Mr. DeSantis the star of the 2022 election, which so far has yielded few big wins for the former president’s endorsement lineup.
“I am not going to abide attacks on Ron DeSantis, personal attacks on this guy — by anybody,” Mr. Levin said on his Wednesday show. “He’s not just a rising star, he is a star. This is a man who is capable of doing great things for this country, whatever he decides to do or however he decides to do it.”
Mr. Levin defended Mr. Trump and said he was not to blame for Tuesday’s GOP fizzle. And he named only Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a conservative from Georgia, as a perpetrator of public attacks on DeSantis. Ms. Greene warned Mr. DeSantis to remain governor of Florida rather than run for president in 2024 and said the GOP should instead coalesce around Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump recently ramped up his own public strafing of the popular Florida governor, and with Mr. Trump expected announcement his presidential bid as soon as next week, the hits on Mr. DeSantis are likely to accelerate.
On his Truth Social media site, Mr. Trump took aim at the cascade of spotlight-stealing accolades for Mr. DeSantis, who trounced his Democratic rival, Charlie Crist, by nearly 20 points in his reelection victory on Tuesday.
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“Now that the Election in Florida is over, and everything went quite well, shouldn’t it be said that in 2020, I got 1.1 Million more votes in Florida than Ron D got this year, 5.7 Million to 4.6 Million? Just asking?”
Mr. Trump won Florida in both the 2016 and 2020 elections and now lives in Palm Beach.
Mr. Trump’s top allies in conservative media, all of them fans of Mr. Trump, have crowned Mr. DeSantis the new star of the GOP, sending a message to the former president that they won’t take kindly to any attacks.
Jason Chaffetz, a Fox News contributor and former Republican congressman, chastised Mr. Trump for taking shots at Mr. DeSantis “even before the votes were closed” on Tuesday.
Mr. Trump, who last week labeled the Florida governor “Ron Desanctimonious,” threatened on Monday to disclose embarrassing information about his potential rival if he runs for president, telling Fox News Digital, “I would tell you things about him that won’t be very flattering. I know more about him than anybody, other than, perhaps, his wife.”
Mr. Trump also called Mr. DeSantis “a fine guy” and said he voted for the incumbent governor on Tuesday.
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• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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