Ron DeSantis Slams Donald Trump For “Basement” Campaign – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched an attack on former president Donald Trump over the weekend, slamming the Republican frontrunner for having not attended a GOP debate.
Gov. DeSantis’ comments came during an interview with Fox News – a network Trump has fallen out with in recent months. The 77-year-old has skipped both debates hosted by the corporation in Milwaukee and California so far, opting instead for an interview with former Fox host Tucker Carlson and a speech to striking workers in Detroit.
“Do I sit there for an hour or two hours, whatever it’s going to be, and get harassed by people that shouldn’t even be running for president?” Trump asked Carlson rhetorically in August. “Should I be doing that at a network that isn’t particularly friendly to me?”
Last week, the former president told NBC News that he also planned to skip the third Republican debate scheduled for November 8 in Miami. With Trump showing no intention to attend any debates at all, Gov. DeSantis compared his main Republican rival to Joe Biden’s “basement” campaign in 2020, where the now-President conducted much of his campaigning from his home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ron DeSantis Attacks Donald Trump
The Florida Governor was speaking on Sunday Morning Futures when he was discussing Trump’s absence at last week’s debate.
“With all due respect to Donald Trump, we’re not going to beat the Democrats by adopting Joe Biden’s basement strategy,” said DeSantis on the program. “You can’t just be missing in action. You got to show up, you got to earn people’s votes. And if you’re not willing to do that, voters will take notice as we get closer to these contests.”
The two adversaries have taken a noticeably different approach to their presidential ambitions. Gov. DeSantis is running a largely grassroots campaign, having even pledged to visit all of Iowa’s 99 counties before the state’s caucus on January 15. Trump, on the other hand, has held large rallies on occasion, but has mostly stuck to his social media site Truth Social to spread his message.
Trump leads his closest rival by around 40 points in the polls, despite a near neck-and-neck race between the two at the start of the year. Since then, the frontrunner’s consistently maintained support of more than half of the GOP, despite four indictments and two missed debates.
Nevertheless, DeSantis remains adamant that he’s the best candidate to beat President Biden in next year’s election. “You show up. You make the case. You don’t mail it in, you don’t go missing in action. You meet voters on the ground in the early states, Iowa, New Hampshire in particular, and tell them about the future of the country and why you’re the best candidate,” DeSantis said in the Fox interview.
“And so, I think that I’ll be the guy. I’ve been the most dependable leader the Republican Party’s had in recent years. I’ve delivered. I haven’t just talked, and that’s what we need in Washington. The time for excuses is over.”
Shay Bottomley is a British journalist based in Canada. He has written for the Western Standard, Maidenhead Advertiser, Slough Express, Windsor Express, Berkshire Live and Southend Echo, and has covered notable events including the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
