Former DeSantis spokesperson turns around and backs TRUMP: Steve Cortes says ex-president is ‘road to recovery’ and it’s ‘time to unite and rally around him’
- Cortes was a campaign advisor to Trump and then worked for Never Back Down
- He turned to DeSantis and condemned Trump’s attacks on General John Kelly
- He wrote an op-ed saying: ‘Only Trump can save America’
A former adviser to Donald Trump is back in the fold after breaking with the former president and moving to Ron DeSantis β and now declares it’s time to “merge and unite” behind the former president.
Steve Cortes, former spokesman for pro-DeSantis superpac Never Back Down, called on fellow Republicans to “read the room” in a new op-ed after Trump defeated his opponents in the Iowa caucuses.
βThose of us who supported Ron DeSantis β or the other Republican candidates β should read the room. Former President Trump effortlessly sifted the field and then crushed the remaining three candidates in Iowa. He’s leading everywhere in the polls. It is time to unite and unite behind the clear preference of the Republican base, Donald John Trump,β he wrote.
He said it’s time to “unify” around Trump β the same tone Trump himself is taking to voters as his team calls on his rivals to resign. βIf the America First movement works fully together, we will achieve a historic electoral victory that will lead to a full restoration of American greatness,β Cortes predicted.
Cortes, a former Trump adviser and cable news commentator, had denounced Trump’s actions following his attacks on former White House chief of staff John Kelly.
Steve Cortes, who served as a senior adviser to Donald Trump but joined the pro-DeSantis super pac Never Back Down, said Republicans need to ‘read the room’ and stand behind Trump
βIf he wins, what serious and serious people would volunteer to work for his government, knowing how brutally he has attacked almost all of his former senior staff?β he asked.
But before that, in 2019, at a time when he was still in the Trump fold, he was optimistic then asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper if it was βfar-fetched to think the president would question the 2020 results if he actually lost.β
βIt’s incredibly far-fetched,β he replied. I honestly can’t believe we’re talking about this… It’s absurd to me. We’re talking: he would, he could, he will. I mean, it’s all an assumption.’
His public statement came in the same manner as Never Back Down carrying out layoffsafter experiencing unrest in the final weeks before the Iowa caucuses, where DeSantis came in second but trailing far behind Trump.
He had previously issued warnings about the DeSantis campaign’s performance
Cortes was an advisor to Trump
His call to side with Trump follows the former president’s victory in the Iowa caucuses
The PAC had footed the bill for DeSantis events around Iowa and the early primaries.
Even officials in Nevada, which comes third in the nominating process, were fired, the New York Times reported.
That comes as DeSantis refocuses his efforts on South Carolina, while trailing far behind Trump and Nikki Haley in New Hampshire.
In July, while serving as spokesman for Never Back Down, Cortes acknowledged that DeSantis was “way behind.”
‘We are currently far behind in the national polls. βI’ll be the first to admit that,β he says said. ‘I believe in being very blunt and very honest. It’s an uphill battle.’
He Reportedly left his broadcast role at Newsmax in 2021 in a clash with the company over its COVID vaccine mandate.
He left Never Back Down in October, but the group said DeSantis was still supporting him in his “personal capacity” at the time.