DeSantis accuses Trump of “cowardice” for refusing to debate Republican rivals

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis accused former President Donald J. Trump of “cowardice” for refusing to participate in the Republican presidential primaries after Mr. Trump bragged about his 2016 confrontation with Hillary Clinton following the release of the “Access Hollywood” -tape.

“Trump is denigrating the military by claiming that it is ‘braver’ for him to debate Hillary Clinton than what soldiers have to endure on the battlefield,” said Mr. DeSantis, a former Navy lawyer. wrote on the social media platform X on Sunday. “Debating is not ‘brave’; it is the bare minimum that every candidate should do. Hiding from debates, on the other hand, is an example of cowardice.”

The Florida governor was responding to comments Mr Trump – who has said he is too far ahead of his rivals in the polls to debate them – made during a speech to the Republicans in New York on Saturday. In his remarks, Mr Trump recounted how a general had praised him for taking the debate stage against Mrs Clinton in 2016, even though a damaging recording of him making vulgar statements about women had recently been made public.

Mr Trump claimed the general told him: “Sir, I’ve been to the battlefield. Men have gone down on my left and on my right. I stood on hills where soldiers were being killed. But I think the bravest thing I ever saw was the night you went on stage with Hillary Clinton after what happened.

DeSantis has often hesitated to directly attack Mr. Trump, who remains popular with Republican voters. He limited his criticism to certain topics, such as his inability to serve two terms and his failure to achieve policy goals such as building a border wall and “draining the swamp” during his first administration. One of Mr. DeSantis’ other attacks focused on Mr. Trump’s decision not to participate in the four Republican debates held so far. But calling the former president a coward represents something of an escalation for Mr. DeSantis as his campaign continues to perform below expectations.

The former president, who has a history of creating anecdotes, the general did not mention. Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said Mr. DeSantis “suffered a meltdown of epic proportions by rekindling Democrats’ talking points.”

“The fact is that Ron is blown out in every poll, and nothing he has done so far has changed his almost non-existent standing with voters,” Mr Cheung added.

A new poll of Iowa Republicans released Monday showed Trump had widened his lead over DeSantis to more than 30 points, with voters in the state poised to decide the first GOP nominating contest in about five weeks.

Throughout his career, Mr. Trump has shown remarkable resilience in the face of scandals that would have destroyed other political candidates. Although many observers thought the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape would torpedo Trump’s chances of winning the 2016 election, he apologized and then dismissed his comments as “locker room conversation” during the debate against Mrs. Clinton.