Ron DeSantis has said that Donald Trump will insist that he has been cheated if he loses any of the upcoming Republican primary elections.
The Florida Governor said his rival for the Republican presidential candidacy nomination would seek to “delegitimise” any results that were not in his favour.
It comes ahead of the Iowa caucuses, the first-in-the-nation Republican contest, next month. According to polling by FiveThirtyEight, Mr Trump currently leads in Iowa – with 47.7 per cent.
Mr DeSantis sits in second place on 19.1 per cent, followed by Nikki Haley on 15.9 per cent.
Speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire, Mr DeSantis said: "If Trump loses, he will say it’s stolen no matter what, absolutely.
"He will try to delegitimise the results. He did that against Ted Cruz in 2016."
Ron DeSantis during a meet and greet event in Iowa on 7 Dec 2023— (Charlie Neibergall/AP)
In the 2016 Iowa caucuses, Mr Cruz beat Mr Trump by a small margin of 28 per cent to 24 per cent. The former president claimed that the Texas senator had “illegally stolen” the victory. He continues to dispute his loss to president Joe Biden in 2020.
Mr DeSantis continued: "I don’t think there’s been a single time he’s ever been in competition for something, where he didn’t get it, where he has accepted [it].” He also referenced Mr Trump’s complaints after his NBC business show The Apprentice failed to win an Emmy Award.
But Mr DeSantis added he was confident that Mr Trump’s potential complaints about the election outcomes would be rejected by the GOP electorate.
"I think that that’s to be expected, but I don’t think people are going to buy it," he said.
The former president is also ahead by a large margin in national polls, leading the field with 62.4 per cent of support, per FiveThirtyEight.
Mr DeSantis also in second place nationally, on 12.3 per cent, though is closely followed by Ms Haley, on 10.9 per cent.
