The groveling started as soon as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis exited the 2024 Republican primary and immediately endorsed former President Donald Trump. Did he have any other choice? Not really, especially if he plans to run for president in 2028.
Despite the onslaught of negative ads hurled between both campaigns, it appears the Trump-DeSantis primary feud is cooling for now. There is a common enemy in President Joe Biden that both have an interest in defeating.
According to reports, the meeting took place over the weekend arranged by a mutual friend to bury the shovel and unify the party:
Former president Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis met privately Sunday morning in Miami, according to people familiar with the matter, breaking a years-long chill between the presumptive Republican nominee and his onetime chief primary rival.
Allies brokered the meeting in hopes of a potential détente between the two men, and Trump’s advisers hope DeSantis will tap his donor network to help raise significant sums of money for the general election, the people familiar with the matter said. Like others interviewed for this story, the people spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private deliberations.
The pair met for several hours and DeSantis agreed to help Trump. The meeting was friendly, according to a person with direct knowledge.
Trump is transactional meaning that his animosity toward DeSantis ended the minute DeSantis was no longer his opponent or a threat for the 2024 GOP nomination. That, of course, didn’t mean that either man was ready to break bread and make nice in person, that would take some months to fully work out.
If DeSantis hopes to have a future in national politics, it was clearly in his best interest to make nice with Trump and act as a unifier, especially for fundraising purposes:
There is an incentive for DeSantis to form a closer relationship, as well. People close to DeSantis have said it is untenable for him to continue to have a strained relationship with Trump, particularly as he eyes his political future. He is widely viewed among Republican donors and consultants as weakened after a shellacking by Trump in the primary.
Shellacking, indeed. DeSantis peaked before he even entered the presidential primary. From then forward it was all downhill and Trump reveled every second of it. There were countless stories of a so-called DeSantis relaunch coupled with new messaging but none of it mattered. Why take MAGA-lite when you can order the real thing?
Whether DeSantis likes it or not, he’ll need Trump’s blessing to run in 2028 and beyond. For Trump, having DeSantis as a fundraising surrogate will also prove beneficial.
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