Ron DeSantis Responds to 'Sucking Up' to Trump Criticism (VIDEO)

Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has faced zealous criticism for challenging President Trump (R) for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, despite his use of Donald Trump's likeness and endorsement to become the 2018 Republican gubernatorial nominee, and eventually governor.  Now, DeSantis is responding to these criticisms that have now become ads.

The ad makes mention of the fact that without Trump's endorsement DeSantis would have been destined to lose to Adam Putnam in the 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary.  The ad also features an old DeSantis ad that rose to national prominence when then-candidate DeSantis was pictured teaching his children about making America great again and building a wall.  DeSantis even read Trump's book, The Art of the Deal, to his infant child.

When asked about the ad and confronted with possibly "sucking up" to Trump, DeSantis responded in laughter stating, "I mean, if you watch that you know it was a satirical ad.  It was a little tongue and cheek, but that was on, you know, many years ago.  I was running and we wanted to get some notoriety."  DeSantis added, "We knew that it would cause the press to go berserk.  And what they would do was they'd be outraged by it, and they would keep playing it, and so people would see."

DeSantis maintained the main point was to display himself, his wife, and his family and that his message was still pushed out to the public by virtue of the media running the ads for them since it was associated with Donald Trump.

The firebrand governor is set to announce his presidential candidacy today  It is likely that DeSantis and Trump may be the defining factors of the 2024 Republican Primary race, leaving plenty of room to discuss their now-awkward dynamic over the next year.

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