DeSantis swipes at Trump before 2024 announcement: ‘Check out the scoreboard from Tuesday night’

DeSantis is considered a top challenger to Trump in 2024

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took a swipe at former president Donald Trump on Tuesday before Mr Trump is set to announce his third run for president.

The Florida governor beat former congressman Charlie Crist by almost 20 points last Tuesday. The overwhelming victory, along with his hardline conservative policies, has led to Republicans floating him as a 2024 presidential candidate.

During a press conference, someone asked the governor what he thought about Mr Trump’s potential announcement.

“All that’s just noise. What really matters is, are you leading, are you getting in front of issues” Mr DeSantis said. “If you do that, none of that stuff matters.”

Mr Trump had endorsed Mr DeSantis in his 2018 primary for governor, which led to him narrowly winning his general election. Since then, Mr DeSantis became a conservative superstar during the Covid-19 pandemic when he mostly kept the state open despite public health recommendations.

At the same time, many Republican candidates that Mr Trump endorsed – such as Dr Oz in Pennsylvania’s Senate race, Tim Michels in Wisconsin’s governor’s race and Kari Lake in Arizona’s governor’s race – lost their races.

“I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night,” Mr DeSantis said in a barb against Mr Trump. “And the fact of the matter is, it was the greatest Republican in history of the state of the Florida.”

Mr Trump for his part has ramped up his attacks on Mr DeSantis. During the weekend before the election, he said called Mr DeSantis “Ron DeSanctimonious,” when citing a poll showing Mr Trump leading the governor in a potential matchup.

Most recently, Mr Trump posted an old ad by Mr DeSantis from his 2018,