Gov. DeSantis insists narrative of Trump rivalry is 'total bunk': He's 'a friend of mine'
Governor-elect Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., joins President Donald J. Trump at the White House Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018, during a discussion with Governors-Elect from around the nation. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
TALLAHASSE, Fla. - EXCLUSIVE: According to Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Republicans, including himself, have the support of former President Trump, and any notion to the contrary can be attributed to media spin.
DeSantis sat down in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital on Monday in Tallahassee, Florida, during which he stated that he's on good terms with Trump.
"Donald Trump's a friend of mine. He is proud when people do well, and it's not just me, but obviously he's a Florida resident, and he appreciates the job that we've done. He's told me that many times, not only with helping with the election, but just how we govern the state."
"He wants to see Republicans doing well," DeSantis continued. "And I think when media is trying to act like he's upset at me for doing well, I think that's total bunk. I think they're just making it up. And I think he's somebody that wants to see, you know, not just Republicans do well, but people that are actually going to stand and fight do well across the board. Obviously, Florida is an important state, the third-largest state in the country, and really us and Texas are the two biggest states that have sizable Republican footprints, and so we're proud of that, and we're going to keep it going."
DeSantis wouldn't say whether he would potentially take on Trump in 2024 and said anonymous sources close to Trump who said he has a "dull personality" could be attributed to Democrats and the media, who are trying to stoke division within the Republican Party in order to re-elect President Biden.
"No. I mean, look, I think that what they're trying to do is they're Biden. They did all they could to get Biden elected. OK. They lied about Trump for four years. They did everything they could to get Biden elected, the guy who campaigned from his basement. They never asked any questions about that. Well, now he gets in. And he had a disastrous first year as president said the worst first year president of any president since the 1800s. People compare him to Jimmy Carter. Carter was much more successful his first year than Biden has been," DeSantis told Fox News Digital.
"So they know that, they know the Democrats are in for a shellacking in 2022. So they're trying to change the topic, and they're trying to drive dissension among Republicans. And so my message to people is, don't take that bait. Understand what they're trying to do. We need to be united and say we don't like what the Biden administration's doing. We offer a better course in Florida. I think other Republican states are offering a better vision in their states as well. And let's go into ‘22 with a full head of steam with everybody united on the same team.
Former Vice President Mike Pence gave a speech Friday during which he said "President Trump is wrong... I had no right to overturn the election" and called it "un-American."
However, Florida's Republican governor said that he would let Trump and Pence "hash that out" themselves.
"My view is we are very proud of what we did in Florida in 2020 to ensure a very efficient and effective election. That's number one. But then two, the result was a really resounding victory for President Trump and Republicans. I think he more than tripled his margin versus 2016 here in the state of Florida. And so I think we did it right."
DeSantis pointed to the institution of strong reforms to ban ballot harvesting and so-called "Zuckerbucks," funding from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He also mentioned a new election integrity unit that Republicans in the state legislature have recently introduced in order to combat voter fraud.
However, Democrats in Florida claim that the proposed election integrity unit will target Black Floridians in an unfair way, including restricting access to the ballot box. In addition, there were only four document arrests of election fraud in Florida during the 2020 election.
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DeSantis told Fox News Digital that the unit was proposed in order to "enforce election law," and he doesn't understand where the criticism is coming from that it would "be targeted at one person or another if there are violations of law."
"We want to bring people to justice. That's without regard to party with certainly without regard to race," he continued.
DeSantis didn't comment on the recent action of the Republican National Committee (RNC) to censure two Republicans, Rep. Liz Cheney, Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, Ill., for sitting on the Democrats' Jan. 6 select committee.
The RNC said in a statement Friday that although it rejects political violence and lawlessness, the Jan. 6 committee is attacking ordinary citizens who engaged in "legitimate political discourse."
DeSantis said he "wasn't aware" of the RNC's action but was quick to condemn Cheney, who he told Fox News Digital is not a true Republican and "just totally off the rails with her nonsense."
"We want people that are going to fight the left, and that's what we need to do in this country. That's what we're doing in Florida, standing up for people's freedoms. We're opposing wokeness. We're opposing all these things. To act like the main issue in this country is things that happened over a year ago. I can tell you in Florida, that's not what Floridians are concerned about. They're concerned about inflation and gas prices. They're thankful that Florida's a free state, but they look around the country and see how fragile freedom is. They're thankful we're a law and order state, but they look around and see what's happening in a lot of these cities where crimes are spiking."
"So I think focusing on the issues and showing that we stand for things that matter to people is the way forward. To have a vendetta against Donald Trump and to constantly be bringing this up is just not something that I think Republican voters are interested in," concluded DeSantis.