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Lara Trump warned on Sunday Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will not compete against her father-in-law, former President Donald Trump, in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries.
“I think he’s smart enough to know that it would be great to have all the support from this entire party, from the ‘America First’, MAGA movement, whatever you want to call it, fully behind him in 2028, then possibly break in 2024,” Trump said on Sky News Australia. “I can tell you those primaries are going to be very messy and very raw.”
Lara Trump was asked about a potential matchup between DeSantis and Trump as the former president looks poised to announce a 2024 bid Tuesday from his Mar-a-Lago resort as other Republicans and their media allies point to DeSantis as the future leader of the GOP.
Lara Trump on Sunday warned Florida Governor Ron DeSantis not to run against her father-in-law, former President Donald Trump, in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, suggesting they could get “very messy and very raw.”
Lara Trump was asked about a 2024 showdown between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (left) and her father-in-law, former President Donald Trump (right) during an appearance on Sky News Australia Sunday
DeSantis has not indicated whether he plans to throw his hat into the ring of 2024.
DeSantis defeated Democrat Charlie Crist by 19 points in last week’s election, easily earning a second term while other Republican candidates struggled.
Florida sources told CNN last week that Florida’s governor would likely wait until after state lawmakers met for their annual legislative session, meaning a presidential announcement wouldn’t come until May or June of next year.
Lara Trump suspected that “he’s probably waiting to see what my father-in-law does.”
“I think Ron DeSantis is very smart. He’s a young guy. There will be many opportunities for him in the future, and he knows this, to become president,” she said.
“So wouldn’t it be nicer for him—and I think he knows this—to wait until 2028?” she argued.
Trump has already nicknamed the governor, “Ron DeSanctimonious,” which it used at several rallies before Election Day, and last week on Truth Social criticized DeSantis, calling him “desperate” for an endorsement in 2017.
Trump also insisted that DeSantis lacked “loyalty and class” to leave the door open for a presidential run in 2024.
Fingers were pointed at Trump in the wake of last week’s midterm races, with Democrats holding on to their Senate majority and Republicans looking like they would barely have a majority in the House.
Lara Trump said she believed Republicans would reunite around her father-in-law, just as they did when he won the GOP primaries in 2016.
“I think the party would be behind him, and I think they know the American people are broadly behind him,” she said. “I think we’re ready for something really big and very exciting,” she added.
If Trump goes through with his announcement on Tuesday, it will historically be early for any candidate to announce a presidential bid.
For the 2020 cycle, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren was the first to step out of the gate, announcing an exploratory committee on New Year’s Eve as 2018 transitioned into 2019.
Now President Joe Biden did not enter the race until April 2019.
“I hope it’s a very historic event,” Lara Trump said when asked about the former president’s plans for Tuesday. “If he does decide to run again, then that’s the announcement we’ll hear on Tuesday,” she added.
Lara Trump, who is married to Trump’s middle son Eric, said she remembered being at Trump Tower in June 2015 when Trump slid down the escalator announcing the bid where he was ultimately successful.
“I didn’t really realize at the time how historic it would be and how poignant a moment in my life was personally, but for the whole country and really the whole world,” she said.
“So look, if you’re lucky enough to be in South Florida on Tuesday, highly recommend stopping by Mar-a-Lago, I don’t think you’ll regret it,” she added .