Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tore into Donald Trump Thursday and said the former president is “full of it” for claiming New York handled the COVID-19 pandemic better than the Sunshine State.
DeSantis, who’s running against Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, went on the offensive when asked during a Tampa, Fla., press conference if he would pledge to support Trump if the 77-year-old wins the GOP nomination.
“What, I would say this, when you are saying that Cuomo did better on Covid than Florida did, you are revealing yourself to just be full of it. Nobody believes that,” DeSantis answered, refusing to say whether he would back Trump in a general election matchup against President Biden.
Trump accused DeSantis of being “average” compared to other GOP governors in a video posted to Truth Social last month, and went on to suggest that disgraced former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo did a better job than DeSantis on COVID-19 policy.
“How about the fact that he had the third most deaths of any state having to do with the China virus or COVID? Even Cuomo did better, he was number four,” Trump claimed.
DeSantis on Thursday went on to note that Trump praised Florida at the height of the pandemic for resisting lockdown measures.
“I remember in 2020 and 2021, when [Trump] was praising Florida for being open, saying we did it much better than New York and Michigan and everyone was coming to Florida and that we were one of the great governors in the United States. And he used to say that all the time,” the governor said.
“Now, all of a sudden, his tune is changing. And I would just tell people, do you find it credible? Do you honestly find it credible? Would you have rather been in New York during Covid under the Cuomo regime, or would you rather have been in the free state of Florida?”
“And I probably can count the number of Republicans on my hand in the nation who would have rather been under Cuomo in New York. And we know that. And so these are just frivolous criticisms,” DeSantis continued, arguing that Trump is just “saying things that are false.”
Trump, the 2024 GOP front-runner, revealed during an interview this week with Fox News host Bret Baier that his attacks against DeSantis – including dubbing him Rob DeSanctimonious – are personal, because he finds it “very disloyal” that DeSantis joined the 2024 presidential race after he helped him get elected in Florida.
“I got him elected,” Trump said. “And I thought it was very disloyal when he said ‘Yes, I’d run.’ I got him past two races.”
“I’m a big loyalist,” Trump continued. “Some people right here in this room tell me ‘sir don’t worry about loyalty, it doesn’t mean anything in politics.’ I said, to me it does. I got the guy elected.”