Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump has put pressure on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to back the former president if he chooses to run for the White House again in 2024.
After Ms Trump claimed that there’s no “bad blood” between Mr Trump and Mr DeSantis, Fox Business Network host Stu Varney said, “DeSantis says asking him to support Trump in 2024 is too much to ask. He’s denying your father-in-law support”.
“Well, let’s give him another opportunity,” Ms Trump suggested. “Perhaps he did not mean exactly how those words are being interpreted. Let’s wait and see. I have not spoken to Ron DeSantis myself about that.”
“Do you think Mr Trump will pick up the phone or Mr DeSantis will pick up the phone and sort it out?” Mr Varney asked.
“I’m sure the two of them are going to be together at some point to discuss things,” Ms Trump said.
The New York Times reported earlier this month that Mr DeSantis has told friends that he thinks that Mr Trump’s expectation to be shown deference is asking too much.
Mr Trump has reportedly complained that Mr DeSantis, whom Mr Trump thinks he made a national figure, has been behaving less and less like a loyal supporter and more like a future rival, potentially splitting the Republican Party.
“Mr Trump, I believe, wants a clear run in 2024,” Mr Varney said. “He wants the backing of all Republicans. If he doesn’t get it, and he’s not getting it from Ron DeSantis, there’s bad blood. This is not a made-up story is it, Lara?”
“Donald Trump hasn’t said that he is running in 2024,” Ms Trump said. “The idea that you can actually give support to someone that hasn’t said that they’re running, I’m not totally sure about that. But look, as far as I know, there is no bad blood here between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.”
She instead urged conservatives to aim their fire at the Democrats and President Joe Biden.
“I think we all agree one of my two dogs could do a better job running our country,” she said. “So, anyone would be better than who is currently running the show.”
Mr Trump recently called politicians who don’t reveal their full vaccination history “gutless” after Mr DeSantis declined to share all of his vaccination information. Mr Trump has said publically that he has received a booster shot.
“I watched a couple of politicians be interviewed, and one of the questions was, ‘Did you get the booster?’” Mr Trump told One America News. “Because they had the vaccine, and they’re answering like — in other words, the answer is ‘yes,’ but they don’t want to say it, because they’re gutless. You gotta say it, whether you had it or not, say it.”
Mr DeSantis pushed back on Friday, saying that he should have been more critical of Mr Trump’s handling of the pandemic while he was in office.
“I never thought in February, early March, that (Covid) would lead to locking down the country,” he said on an episode of the Ruthless podcast released on Thursday. “I just didn’t. I didn’t think that was on the radar.”
Mr DeSantis also said he regrets not making his opposition to the restrictions put in place in March 2020 “much louder”.
