Evangelical leader says DeSantis can upend Trump in Iowa Caucus
The FAMiLY Leader president and CEO Bob Vander Plaats joins Your World with Neil Cavuto to discuss the 2024 GOP presidential primaries.
Former President Donald Trump’s team went after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a scathing message on Truth Social on Thursday saying that his GOP opponent is "thirsty" like an "OnlyFans" model and debating California Gov. Gavin Newsom because he is "so desperate for attention."
"Ron DeSanctimonious is acting more like a thirsty, third-rate OnlyFans wannabe model than an actual presidential candidate. Instead of actually campaigning and trying to turn around his dismal poll numbers, DeSanctus is now so desperate for attention that he's debating a Grade A loser like Gavin Newsom," Trump Spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a press release titled "Kiss of Death" on the day DeSantis and Newsom were set to debate on Fox News.
Cheung continued: "At the debate, Ron will flail his arms and bobble his head wildly, looking more like a San Francisco crackhead than the governor of Florida. This isn’t a prediction. It’s a spoiler."
"It's never been clearer that Ron DeSanctus doesn't have his eye on the ball. Despite falling to FIFTH PLACE in New Hampshire and failing to gain any ground in Iowa for months, DeSantis appears to already be auditioning for a career in reality television, with tonight's circus with Gavin Newsom," Cheung wrote.
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Former President Donald Trump, left, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are leading contenders in the GOP primary for president. (Getty Images)
The Trump campaign has continued to spar with the DeSantis campaign in recent months as the Florida governor attempts to position himself as the most viable alternative to Trump.
"Donald Trump is a high-risk proposition as a nominee because I think the chance of him getting elected is small, but it’s a low reward because he’s going to be a lame duck on day one – that even if he could get elected, he would not be able to attract the type of talent to work in his administration and he’d be saddled with all these distractions that it’d be virtually impossible to get the job done," DeSantis said earlier this month.
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Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to a crowd during a campaign rally on September 25, 2023 in Summerville, South Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
The super PAC backing Trump's campaign revived attack ads against DeSantis last month, spending millions going after DeSantis in the past few weeks, which the DeSantis team pointed out on social media earlier this month as a public admission that DeSantis is "climbing in Iowa."
DeSantis was recently endorsed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and influential Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats who said "there’s definitely a shot that the former president can be beat here" despite Trump leading DeSantis by at least 30 points, according to the Real Clear Politics average, with just over six weeks until the Iowa caucus.
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to members of the media after an event on Thursday, July 27, 2023 in Chariton, Iowa. ((Sergio Flores for The Washington Post via Getty Images))
"The good news for Ron DeSantis is he is the front-runner in Iowa if former President Trump was not competing to win Iowa," David Avella, chairman of GOPAC and a veteran Republican strategist, told Fox News Digital earlier this week.
"The bad news for Ron DeSantis is former President Trump is organizing to win Iowa. For DeSantis to win, he needs to get [there to] caucus those voters who are still keeping their options open and those voters who are only considering candidates other than Donald Trump. It is going to take him convincing voters with a clear, concise message that his ideas are the best solutions."
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