LIGHTHOUSE POINT, FLORIDA – Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) held a press conference in connection with the three new bills he signed into law against human trafficking (SB 7064, 1690, and HB 1465). However, with the Republican Presidential primary season heating up, the very first question Gov. DeSantis was asked, despite not announcing a bid for the White House yet, regarding recent comments made by former President Donald Trump (R). The question asked by The Floridian Publisher Javier Manjarres concerning President Trump’s comments, stating that Gov. DeSantis’s six-week abortion bill being “too harsh,” even for some pro-lifers, according to Trump.
This is a new angle for the former President, as he rarely attacks other Republicans from a more politically center position.
BREAKING— @GovRonDeSantis calls out President Trump for not saying he supports Florida’s 6-week abortion law #flpol pic.twitter.com/5SJ1kmZcUe
— Javier Manjarres (@JavManjarres) May 16, 2023
DeSantis responded, stating, “Protecting an unborn child when there’s the detectable heartbeat is something that almost probably 99% of pro-lifers support. It’s something that other states like Iowa under Governor Kim Reynolds have enacted and I think that as a Florida resident, [Trump] didn’t give an answer about would you have signed the heartbeat bill that Florida did, that had all the exceptions that people talk about the legislature put it in. I signed the bill. I was proud to do it. He would not answer whether he would sign it or not.”
A common trope in this primary is that Trump is the frontrunner among Republicans, but even those who support him worry about his electability. Perhaps this angle from Trump is a way to address this narrative.
