Former high Trump administration official Bill Barr stated if had “had to bet,” he thinks Florida governor Ron DeSantis would beat Donald Trump in a possible race to be the 2024 Republican nominee for president.
“I don’t know Ron DeSantis that well, but I’ve been impressed with his record down in Florida,” the previous lawyer basic stated on an episode of journalist Bari Weiss’s Honestly podcast launched Thursday.
“And my view is I’m going to support whoever has the best chance of pushing Trump aside,” he added.
Mr Barr, one of the few Trump allies who publicly contradicted the former president’s false claims he won the 2020 election, tore into his old boss, arguing Mr Trump was “all about himself,” and a re-election bid would be “prescription for continued hostility within the country.”
The ex-AG said he’d back Mr Trump over a progressive Democrat, but not gladly.
“I don’t like that alternative,” he said. “It’s a lesser of two evils alternative. We must see extra about what comes out of a few of these investigations, however I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t vote for Trump, that I’d sit again and be proud of a progressive Democrat profitable.”
The former president has no love lost for his former attorney general, labelling him a RINO, short for a Republican in name only.
“Former A.G. Bill Barr, a RINO if there ever was one, didn’t have the braveness or stamina to go after voter fraud—Was afraid he was going to be impeached,” Mr Trump wrote on social media in June. “NO GUTS, NO GLORY!!!”
Neither Mr Trump nor Mr DeSantis have announced plans to run again in 2024, but both men have been the subject of constant speculation about presidential ambitions next cycle.
Mr DeSantis has made national headlines in recent weeks for airing a Top Gun-inspired campaign ad in the 2022 Florida governor’s race, and echoing Trump-style rhetoric in recent days, bashing the left’s so-called “woke” agenda and fantasizing about throwing “that little elf” Dr Anthony Fauci “across the Potomac.”
Political observers have dubbed Mr DeSantis part of a “shadow race” for the 2024 nomination against the expected incumbents, being mentioned in the same breath as California governor Gavin Newsom, who has released campaign-style ads specifically bashing Mr DeSantis in his home state.
Recent polling suggests Mr DeSantis is the one Republican who may compete with Mr Trump on a 2024 major poll.
One ballot, out Friday, finds Mr De Santis could be extra aggressive in hypothetical election in opposition to Joe Biden than Mr Trump, although each males would in the end lose to the Democrat.
Another, launched earlier this week, discovered Mr Trump was nonetheless extra common amongst Republican voters than Mr DeSantis, although not had majority help throughout the GOP.
Source: www.impartial.co.uk