Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis admitted that “of course” former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden in an interview with NBC News that aired Monday.
The outlet’s Dasha Burns probed the Florida governor during the interview on whether he believes Trump’s argument that the 2020 election was stolen from him. While DeSantis conceded that he “doesn’t think it was the perfect election,” citing mail-in balloting, ballot harvesting and censorship from Big Tech companies, he said that “Joe Biden’s the president.”
“Whoever puts their hand on the Bible on Jan. 20 every four years is the winner,” said DeSantis. “No, of course he lost.”
DeSantis blamed the former president for turning “the government over to Fauci,” and allowing mass amounts of mail-in balloting during the COVID-19 pandemic that he argued could have had an effect on the election results. The governor also pointed to Florida’s ban on ballot harvesting as an example of his record on election integrity.
“Ron DeSantis should really stop being Joe Biden’s biggest cheerleader,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
DeSantis also insisted that the GOP move on from Trump in 2024 if they want to beat Biden in a general election next year, according to the interview.
“If the election is a referendum on Joe Biden’s policies and the failures that we’ve seen and we are presenting a positive vision for the future, we will win the presidency and we will have a chance to turn the country around,” DeSantis told NBC News. “If, on the other hand, the election is not about Jan. 20, 2025, but Jan. 6, 2021, or what document was left by the toilet at Mar-a-Lago, if it’s a referendum on that, we are going to lose.”
The RealClearPolitics (RCP) average for a 2024 national Republican primary, based on polls conducted between July 12 to Aug. 3, indicates Trump leads a crowded field with 53.7% support compared to DeSantis’ 15.7%. Though Biden is beating both Trump and DeSantis for a general election matchup, the former president fares better, losing by 0.9 points compared to the Florida governor‘s 2 points.
DeSantis’ sit down with NBC News is reflective of his campaign’s “reset” to do more media appearances following his CNN debut with Jake Tapper in mid-July.
Trump did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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