Ron DeSantis is not a fighter–at least this is the conclusion that some of his major donors have reached as they have waited in vain for the Florida governor to start defending himself against Trump’s increasingly aggressive assaults.
The donors and allies are worried that his recent stumbles suggest he may not be ready for an inevitably brutal fight against Donald Trump. He needs to begin directly confronting Trump if he is to have any chance of slowing down the former president’s momentum, especially as Trump has astutely capitalized on the news that he might be imminently indicted and arrested in the “Stormy Daniels” case.
On March 18 Trump posted on Truth Social: “Illegal leaks from a corrupt & highly political Manhattan district attorney’s office … indicate that, with no crime being able to be proven … the far & away leading Republican candidate & former president of the United States of America, will be arrested on Tuesday of next week”.
While this turned out to be a red herring, it still served to galvanize his base, filling the coffers of his campaign funds, and raising his poll numbers.
Other donors believe DeSantis should sidestep Trump altogether and wait until 2028 to run. Either way this is not good news for a prospective candidate who, as recently as a month ago, was leading Trump in the polls.
At a Sunday luncheon following the annual Red Cross ball in Palm Beach, Florida, a group of 16 prominent Republicans, described by one attendee as a mix of DeSantis backers and Trump “skeptics,” discussed misgivings about the governor’s standing for the future if he tussles with the former president.
“They liked him — many of them might even support him,” the person who was at the event said of DeSantis. “But they thought on balance that his long-term future was better without him trying to take Trump head on.”
“He will get scarred up” by Trump, the person added.
Then there’s conservative billionaire shipping goods magnate Richard Uihlein and his wife, Elizabeth, whose $500,000 in combined contributions ranked them among the most generous donors to DeSantis’ 2022 re-election campaign.
A person familiar with the strategy around Uihlein’s spending said that right now, “The brakes are pumped,” adding, “The polling really made different people pause.”
The fears of some of his own supporters, along with a growing sentiment among GOP operatives that Trump may be impossible to defeat — even with a possible indictment looming over him — present DeSantis with a dilemma. He finds himself in a no-win situation: trying to demonstrate that he is a viable presidential candidate before he even launches his anticipated campaign.
Once surging, DeSantis now remains well below Trump in polls measuring the prospective GOP primary field. He was slow to respond to the possible indictment of Trump — and then merely sideswiped the former president once he did. DeSantis was also forced this week to clean up his position on U.S. support for Ukraine after a backlash from establishment Republicans.
NBC News spoke with more than 20 GOP strategists, politicians and donors about whether DeSantis can bounce back from adversity — some of it self-inflicted, some of it the result of constant pressure from Trump — or is destined to wilt under the intense lights of a campaign for the presidency.
“It’s 100% possible that we’ve seen him peak already,” said one veteran Republican campaign operative who speaks to donors regularly. That person said he believes DeSantis can recover, but the governor’s reaction to the indictment question “was really telling about how far behind the eight-ball” he and his team are.
Another stated that donors who have given to DeSantis over the past year or two are still open to supporting him for president, but they’re also starting to take a look at other potential candidates like Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., as DeSantis has “fumbled” the big moments.
A few are still behind the governor all the way. Gregory Cook, founder of the multilevel essential oils marketing company doTerra, said in an email that DeSantis’ pre-campaign phase has been “very encouraging!” and that the Florida governor “exhibits the leadership we need at this time.”
“Although he has not announced a presidential run, if he were to do so, Governor DeSantis is the clear front-runner in my opinion,” Cook said.
And yet, despite the risks of not declaring himself a candidate, and letting expectations and momentum peter out under the Trump assaults, DeSantis allies have said he still doesn’t plan to make an announcement about a possible candidacy at least until June, after Florida’s legislative session is over.
By that time it may be too little, too late and DeSantis will have missed his moment.
