Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) made an uncharacteristic move during last week’s debate: He called out former President Donald Trump by name.
In what appears to be a new campaign strategy, he denounced Trump’s decision to skip the second 2024 Republican presidential debate.
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“So please spare me the crocodile tears for these people [in Washington]. They need to change what’s going on. And where’s Joe Biden? He’s completely missing in action from leadership,” DeSantis said. “And you know who else is missing in action? Donald Trump is missing in action. He should be on this stage tonight.”
“He owes it to you,” the Florida governor added to applause from the crowd, “to defend his record, where they added $7.8 trillion to the debt. That set the stage for the inflation that we have.”
That’s a sharp contrast from the strategy DeSantis followed for months, in which he rarely mentioned Trump and even more seldom by name while making his case for the White House. DeSantis’s campaign team followed those comments with a weekend dispatch titled “DeSantis cranks up the heat on Trump,” highlighting several additional swipes he’s made at t …