Less than a week before he returns to the state that kicks off the race for the White House, former President Trump says in a new interview that if he runs again for president, most other Republicans would “drop out.”
But if Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose standing among conservatives has skyrocketed over the past year and a half, also makes a bid for the 2024 GOP nomination, Trump emphasizes “I’d beat him.”
The former president made his comments in excerpts released Sunday from an interview with Yahoo Finance that’s scheduled to be published on Monday.
Trump remains very popular and influential among Republican voters and GOP politicians as he continues to play a kingmaker’s role in party politics and repeatedly flirts with launching a third straight presidential campaign, to try and return to the White House.
Trump remains the overwhelming front runner in all of the extremely early polls in the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race. But in hypothetical questions with Trump not on the ballot, DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence top the large field of potential contenders in most surveys.
The conservative governor saw his popularity surge among Republican voters in his state and around the nation over the past year and a half, thanks in large part to his combative push back against COVID-19 restrictions amid the pandemic.
