The inevitable fight between Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is heating up as the two men campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire following DeSantis’ official, not very successful, campaign launch. But while the two are trading a steady stream of criticism and insults, it feels like a preview of the real battle to come.
DeSantis has coyly attacked Trump for having lost reelection, saying, “It really requires a two-term presidency to be able to do as much as you need to do.” Trump came back with, “When he says eight years, every time I hear it I wince, because I say if it takes eight years to turn this around, then you don’t want him, you don’t want him as your president,” pledging, “It’ll take me six months to have it totally the way it was, we’ll have it fast.”
That set DeSantis up to ask, “Why didn’t he do it in his first four years?” It’s a fair point, but one based on the assumption that competence and achievement are truly what Republican voters want.
Trump predictably took on the shifting pronunciation of DeSantis’ name—DeeSantis or DehSantis—saying, “You don’t change your name in the middle of an election, he changed his name in the middle of the election. You don’t do that, you do it before or after, but ideally you don’t do it at all.”