Washington: Former US President Donald Trump has warned Ron DeSantis, the incumbent Florida Governor who is projected to retain his seat following the midterm polls, against running for the White House in 2024, saying “he could hurt himself very badly”.
As the US went to the polls on Tuesday, Trump in an interview with Fox News said: “I think he would be making a mistake. I think the base would not like it… I don’t know if he is running. I think if he runs, he could hurt himself very badly. I really believe he could hurt himself badly.
“I don’t think it would be good for the (Republican) party.”
Without providing details, the former President also threatened to release “things about him (DeSantis) that won’t be very flattering… I know more about him than anybody, other than, perhaps, his wife”, the BBC reported.
Trump, however denied that he had any dispute with the 44-year-old Governor and said: “There’s not a tiff with me, and I’m way up in the polls.”
He also took credit for DeSantis’s projected victory, saying that his endorsement is what got him elected in 2019, reports the BBC.
“I thought that he could have been more gracious. But that’s up to him,” Trump said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that he had voted for DeSantis after emerging from a polling station in Palm Beach, Florida.
Meanwhile, the Governor in his victory speech on Tuesday evening credited his victory to turning the state into “a refuge of sanity when the world went mad”.
He also put his victory down to turning the state into “a citadel of freedom” that ignored “the woke agenda” of left-wingers, the BBC reported.
DeSantis called his victory by the largest margin for any Florida Governor in four decades “a win for the ages”, adding that he is “not done fighting”.
(IANS)
