Trump celebrates DeSantis’ exit from race, ending campaign-defining controversy

Donald Trump on Sunday shrugged off months of criticism and ridicule from Ron DeSantis to praise his former Republican rival, who turned pro after the Florida governor ended his presidential campaign and threw his support behind the former president.

It has become common for Trump to receive the support of someone who once tried to defeat him. In any case, it was surprising that, at his campaign rally in New Hampshire on Sunday, Trump praised DeSantis without referring to him as “DeSantimonious” or “DeSanctus,” making for perhaps the most bitter exchange in the 2024 Republican campaign. The rivalry ended.

“I just want to thank Ron and congratulate him on a great job,” Trump said at the beginning of his remarks. “He was very kind and gave me his support. I appreciate it and I look forward to working with Ron as well.” Trump called DeSantis “really a wonderful guy.”

A few hours earlier, DeSantis published a video in which he announced he was ending his campaign two days before the Republican primary in New Hampshire. But beyond Trump’s happiness Sunday night, it wasn’t the warmest endorsement.

“It’s clear to me that the majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis said with a forced smile, in his frank analysis and without praising Trump.

“I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honor it,” he added, before launching into an attack on remaining contender Nikki Haley. DeSantis said the former United Nations ambassador and one-time governor of South Carolina is “a reincarnated version of the old Republican guard that Nikki Haley represents.”

Trump seemed unimpressed by the approach taken by DeSantis, creating a cordial atmosphere as political rivals. “I will tell you it is not easy,” the former president announced Sunday night in Rochester. “They think it’s easy to do, right? It is not easy”.

Brenda Moneypenny, 64, of Alton, waited for two hours in the cold to see Trump. She pulled out her driver’s license to validate her last name and revealed that she is registered as an independent and often votes Republican. Moneypenny said she had considered voting for Haley, especially for the opportunity to elect the first female president in American history. But DeSantis was never an option for them.

“Very misleading,” Moneypenny said of the governor. “He needs better campaign staff. “At the moment they don’t have anyone who is doing work that will benefit them.”

Ultimately he settled on Trump: “Tried and proven,” he declared.

___ Barrow reported from Atlanta.