Governor Ron DeSantis challenged former President Donald Trump to a one-on-one debate in an interview with Sean Hannity yesterday.
"You know what? Maybe we can say since the former President didn't come here maybe he'd be willing to do one with you and I," DeSantis told Fox News's Sean Hannity in a post-debate interview in Simi Valley. "I think he owes it to our voters to come and make the case."
"So this is going to be Hannity One-on-One debate?" asked Hannity.
"Let's do it!" replied DeSantis. "Here's the thing though. You owe it to the voters to come and make the case. No one's entitled to anything. You can say 'there's some poll' months before? No. You gotta make the case. So I'm going to show up everywhere."
This was the second GOP debate Trump refused to show up to even though he is a candidate for the Republican nomination for President.
Wow! Ron DeSantis just publicly challenged Donald Trump to a one-on-one debate. Trump would never accept, of course, because he's old and frail and would never win. But it's still a good strategic move for DeSantis to continue to expose that. pic.twitter.com/kTAyZNNchA
— Scott Morefield (@SKMorefield) September 28, 2023
DeSantis hammered Trump right out of the gate on his recent comments about Florida's Heartbeat Bill. In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press earlier this month, Trump stated that DeSantis’ signing of a 6-week heartbeat bill into law was a “terrible mistake.
"I reject this idea that pro-lifers are to blame for midterm defeats," said DeSantis. "I think there are other reasons for that. The former president is missing in action tonight. He has had a lot to say about that. He should be here explaining his comments to try to say pro-life protections are somehow a terrible thing."
Donald Trump is missing in action tonight.
He should be here explaining his comments saying that pro-life protections are somehow a “terrible thing.”
We’re better off when everybody counts — and we should stand for what we believe in. pic.twitter.com/b5lD6LhKqP
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) September 28, 2023
When asked by moderator Dana Perino how he plans to win over independent pro-choice voters, DeSantis answered that he would do it the same way he did in Florida.
"We won the greatest victory in a governor's race in the history of the state," said DeSantis. "Over 1.5 million votes. We were winning places like Miami-Dade County and Palm Beach that nobody thought was possible because we were leading with purpose and conviction."
It's important to note that Hannity said that none of the candidates had a break out debate performance.
