Donald Trump urged supporters at his rally in Miami, Fla. on Sunday to re-elect Ron DeSantis as their governor – a day after he blasted the popular GOP leader as “Ron De-Sanctimonious.”
He said Floridians “will re-elect a great friend of mine, Marco Rubio, in two days when Americans go to the polls on November 8th. Rubio faces a challenge for his Senate seat from Democratic House Representative Val Demings.
“You will elect DeSantis as your governor,” he added to cheers from the crowd.
Across the aisle, Trump also appeared to point out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the recent break-in at her home that resulted in her 82-year-old husband being brutally smashed with a hammer by an intruder allegedly supporting QAnon was attacked beliefs.
“Crazy Nancy Pelosi, how has she been lately?” asked the ex-president sarcastically. He also urged voters to “fire” them from the House Speaker, a line echoed by most speakers at Sunday’s rally.
Trump told rally-goers at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition Center of Democrats in general, “You have to crush the communists,” noting that he has sharpened his rhetoric by calling the left “socialists.”
“The communist and Marxist leanings of the radical Democratic Party is one of the main reasons … Americans are joining our movement,” Trump said.
It comes as Republicans have seen a last-minute burst of momentum ahead of Tuesday’s election, with RealClearPolitics forecasting a crucial GOP win in the House of Representatives and a possible win in the Senate.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in support of Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla.’s campaign at the Miami-Dade County Fair and Exposition Sunday, November 6, 2022, in Miami
Despite the rainy weather, supporters gathered outdoors at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition Center
If they win majorities in both houses of Congress, Trump said Sunday, the GOP must “immediately force the restoration of our southern border.”
He went a step further, calling for the number of Customs and Border Protection officers and ICE officers to be “doubled”.
Border security is among the Republicans’ top targets for Democrats amid a record spike in encounters with migrants at the US-Mexico border.
He also teased his own future plans for 2024 while touting the number of voters he received in 2020.
“I was a lot better the second time around,” Trump said, citing the number of votes he received when he lost to President Joe Biden. “And now, in order to make our country successful, except glorious, I’ll probably have to do it all over again.”
Trump held his third rally of a four-state swing Sunday night and was preparing to take the stage in Miami, Fla., just two days before Election Day.
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hit three different counties for his own speaking engagements — but will give Trump a wide berth in Miami-Dade.
He has been excluded from the litany of GOP figures who have spoken before Trump, including Florida Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, and House Representatives Matt Gaetz, Vern Buchanan and Michael Waltz, among others.
DeSantis’ absence comes as no surprise given the increasingly hostile relations between the rising GOP star and his de facto party leader.
At his second of four rallies Saturday night, Trump mocked DeSantis in Pennsylvania as “Ron De-Sanctimonious” while dismissing a list of potential Republican challengers for 2024.
The popular Republican governor has refused to publicly fire on Trump, perhaps aware of how closely intertwined their bases are, but hasn’t ruled out the possibility of challenging him in 2024.
Donald Trump mocked Ron DeSantis as “Ron DeSanctimonious” at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday night.
While Trump is performing in Miami, DeSantis will speak at three rallies near Tampa on Sunday
His reluctance has angered Trump, who has widely credited DeSantis’ rise to political stardom from being another House Republican to winning a close race for the Tallahassee governor’s mansion in 2018.
More recently, however, DeSantis has made a national name for himself with his vocal criticism of the Biden administration’s COVID-19 precautions and other attacks, as well as laws targeting LGBTQ youth.
The vast majority of GOP voter polls in early 2024 put DeSantis right behind Trump in terms of who Republicans want as their next presidential nominee.
Trump has yet to formally declare his intention to run, but he has dropped several clues that make clear where he is leaning.
“We’re winning big, big, big in the Republican Party for the nomination like no one’s seen before,” the former president said Saturday night.
He asked for poll numbers to be displayed on the screen above him.
“There it is, Trump at 71, Ron DeSanctimonious at 10 percent,” Trump said sardonically.
“Mike Pence at 7, oh Mike is doing better than I thought. Liz Cheney, she’s definitely not at 4 percent. There is no possibility. There is no possibility. But we’re at 71 to 10 to 7 to 4.’
Surprisingly, among the first high-profile Republicans to rush to DeSantis’ defense was Mike Pompeo — Trump’s former secretary of state and a potential 2024 contender himself.
“Not tired of winning. [Governor Ron DeSantis] They have proven that conservative policies work. Florida is better suited for this. Vote [DeSantis].’
Trump’s inner circle is eyeing November 14 as the likely date for his third run for the White House, Axios reported last week.
DeSantis, meanwhile, made the final arguments for his own re-election bid on Sunday.
He is running for a second term as governor against Charlie Crist, a House Democrat who previously ruled Florida as a Republican from Tallahassee.
Though DeSantis has kept quiet about his presidential ambitions, he has amassed a whopping $200 million war chest for his 2022 re-election bid — a staggering sum for a gubernatorial candidate.
His Sunday rallies are part of his “Don’t Tread on Florida” tour. Stops included Lee, Hillsborough and Sarasota counties.