Ron DeSantis fires back at Trump, says he's a 'different man' for 2016 and criticizes his COVID response

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Ron DeSantis has criticized his 2024 Republican opponent Donald Trump, claiming he is “a different man” than when he first ran for the presidency.

The former president is leading all other Republican candidates for the party’s presidential nomination, with DeSantis running in second place, according to polls.

Florida’s governor officially launched his bid earlier this week in a chaotic Twitter space event with billionaire Elon Musk.

And Mr. DeSantis told radio host Matt Murphy that he was running to the right of Mr. Trump and portrayed himself as more conservative, according to USA Today,

“It sounds like he’s running to the left and I’ve always been someone who sticks to conservative principles,” Mr. DeSantis said.

“So these will be interesting debates, but I can tell you, you don’t win nationally by being left-wing, you win nationally by standing up for bold policy. We showed that in Florida. Everything I did, I never diminished him.

And Mr. DeSantis claimed that Mr. Trump is not the same person he was in the first election.

“I don’t know what happened to Donald Trump; When he was running in 2015 and 2016, this is a different person today and I think the direction he’s going with his campaign is the wrong direction,” Mr. DeSantis said.

And he attacked Mr Trump over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic while in office.

“I think [Trump] Did great for three years, but when he turned the country over to Fauci in March of 2020, who destroyed millions of lives,” Mr. DeSantis said on a podcast.

“And in Florida, we were one of the few who stood up, cut against the grain, withstood the fire coming from the media, the bureaucracy, the left, even a lot of Republicans, schools open, protected It was business.”