‘I Coached DeSantis’: Matt Gaetz Ridicules DeSantis For Claiming Debate Skills Won Him Florida

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) ridiculed Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis on Friday for claiming his debate skills won him the Florida gubernatorial election and dished the dirt on how he helped DeSantis secure former President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

Filling in for Rob Schmitt as the host of Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt Tonight on Friday, Gaetz said:

Just today, President Trump called for Ron DeSantis to drop out of the race and unify the Republican team. That would certainly be something that I know a lot of Republicans would appreciate, a unified team. Now I know Governor DeSantis very well, having served as his chairman of the transition when he became governor of Florida. He’s a spirited competitor, very bright, and will likely be the last person to fully come to grips with the fundamentals of this 2024 primary. Know this, DeSantis won’t drop out. Trump is going to have to defeat him. A nearly 40 point lead is typically a pretty good place to start.

Gaetz then claimed that “in a way, DeSantis’ own thinking about the viability of a sudden jolt from ‘also ran’ status to frontrunner is itself polluted by his experience with Trump” during the 2018 Florida gubernatorial election.

“Here’s the story,” Gaetz said:

Ron DeSantis trailed fellow Republican Adam Putnam by 20 points or more at the beginning of his initial campaign for Florida governor. When he got President Trump’s endorsement, which I confess I helped DeSantis secure, his polling rose faster than the price of Taylor Swift concert tickets. In his book, DeSantis claims that it was really his debate performances that fuelled his meteoric rise. I coached DeSantis for all of those debates, and you know what was the principle point we sought to emphasize? That DeSantis could be trusted to back Trump and the other guy couldn’t.

Despite previously being close to DeSantis, Gaetz has repeatedly criticized the Florida governor’s decision to challenge Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination.

In May, after videos of Gaetz prepping DeSantis for his 2018 debates were leaked, Gaetz tweeted, “Though I prefer Trump for President (bigly), the release of these videos by the person operating the camera is disloyal hackery that I do not abide.”

Watch above via Newsmax.

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