Politics is a rough-and-tumble business in which harsh words and unflattering characterizations — even within one’s own party — tend to be par for the course.
However, one recent intraparty feud among Republican heavy-hitters now appears to be in the rearview mirror, with President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis exchanging words of praise, friendship, and — perhaps most importantly — political alignment, as Fox News reports.
Burying the hatchet
Though their rivalry reached fever pitch in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, Trump and DeSantis have since mended fences and are effectively working to advance a common agenda.
The detente reached between the two powerful men was on full display this week when they appeared together at the new Everglades-area migrant detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
It was there that Trump and DeSantis exchanged words of support and positivity toward one another, with the president telling the governor, “You are my friend, and you’ll always be my friend, and we may have some skirmishes, even in the future,” as NBC News noted.
Trump continued, adding, “I will always come back, because we have blood that seems to match pretty well,” noting of his relationship with DeSantis, “I think it is a 10. Maybe a 9.9…We get along great.”
DeSantis, for his part, seemed to concur, reminding reporters, “The thing about it is, I endorsed him. Raised one of his PACs millions and millions of dollars,” with Bryan Griffin, the governor’s communications director, describing the relationship as “fantastic.”
Dramatic shift observed
The tone observed in both Trump and DeSantis on Tuesday was far different from the very public, highly critical barbs they exchanged as recently as last year, as Florida Politics explained back in March.
According to the outlet, when speaking to eventual Vice President JD Vance in 2023, Trump reportedly predicted about a primary match-up against DeSantis, “I’m going to squash this guy like a bug.”
Throughout the same campaign, Trump was reported to have referred to DeSantis as a “globalist,” a “RINO,” and a “groomer,” also accusing him of wearing “hidden heels” to bolster his physical stature.
Perhaps most memorably, Trump assigned the governor the unflattering – yet arguably catchy — moniker of “Ron DeSanctimonious,” underscoring the bitter battle between the two that continued to rage for much of 2024.
DeSantis played his own part in the war of words that once characterized his dealings with Trump, taking aim at his first-term handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and suggesting that many prior campaign promises had gone unfulfilled, declaring emphatically that “the swamp was not drained.”
Common goals prioritized
Now that the relationship between Trump and DeSantis appears to have returned to solid footing, the governor has been taking decisive action to help the president fulfill his immigration agenda in particular, as this week’s facility opening in his home state demonstrates.
Whether the cooperative sentiments expressed this week will persist is something that remains to be seen, but at least for now, Trump and DeSantis are — at least publicly — letting bygones be bygones for the benefit of a broader set of America First objectives.
The post Trump, DeSantis present unified front, collaborative approach despite past rivalry appeared first on Conservative Institute.
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Author: Sarah May
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