DeSantis keeps getting asked: Why won’t he criticize Trump directly?
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from voters at every campaign stop, so he often faces variations on the same question — sometimes multiple times in one day at different events hundreds of miles apart.
And he seems to be growing tired of a common question in particular: Why doesn’t he attack former President Donald J. Trump more directly?
It came up again Wednesday at a community center in Waukee, Iowa, where Christopher Garcia, a 75-year-old retired gas soldier, pressed Mr. DeSantis at length.
Mr. DeSantis responded that he is indeed critical of Mr. Trump, who leads the Republican presidential field by a wide margin.
“On the campaign trail, I articulated all the differences over and over again,” the Florida governor said. He accused the news media of wanting Republican candidates to “smear” each other with personal attacks. “That’s just not how I roll,” he added.
It is true that Mr. DeSantis often sums up what he says about Mr. Trump’s inability to deliver on the promises he made as a candidate in 2016 once he came to power. But Mr. Garcia asked Mr. DeSantis something deeper and more personal: Did he think that Mr. Trump’s often vulgar language and crude insults — such as jibes — Physical appearance of Carly Fiorina and disparaging John McCain’s military service – made him unfit for the White House?
“That man has no class,” argued Mr. Garcia, who said he voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 and 2020 anyway.
Mr. DeSantis declined to offer his own opinion on Mr. Trump’s behavior. But if Mr. Trump were to win the Republican nomination, Mr. DeSantis said, “the entire election will be a referendum on his behavior.” He then returned to listing Trump’s unfulfilled campaign promises.
Mr. Garcia, sitting in a plastic chair with his walker propped against his knees, raised his hand again, hoping to continue the conversation. But Mr. DeSantis didn’t get back to him.
How, or even if, to attack Trump is a challenge that all of the former president’s rivals have struggled to overcome. So far, no approach seems to work that well.
Former Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey is attacking Mr Trump most aggressively, both politically and personally. But Republican voters have shown little interest in his message.
Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador now widely seen as Trump’s biggest challenger, is only taking carefully calibrated shots at the former president. But her recent rise in the polls may have as much to do with her crossover appeal to Democrats and independents as her cautious approach to Mr. Trump. And Vivek Ramaswamy, the entrepreneur who is quick to attack the rest of the field, has showered the former president with praise, leaving some voters wondering why he is running in the first place.
So far, Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley, and their allied outside groups, have spent money much more money attack each other than Mr. Trump.
After the DeSantis event concluded, reporters swarmed Mr. Garcia for interviews, reflecting both the increased attention on the Iowa caucuses, which take place on Jan. 15, and what appears to be one of the core issues facing Mr. DeSantis is confronted.
Mr. Garcia, who lives outside Des Moines, said he planned to vote for Mr. DeSantis even though he would vote for Mr. Trump in a general election. He was unimpressed by the governor’s criticism of Trump on Wednesday, which he called “vague.”
“Are these people afraid to tackle Trump head-on?” Mr. Garcia said of Mr. DeSantis and the other candidates. “I mean, is that the problem?”