'Very disloyal': Trump chides Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley amid 2024 speculation
Asher Notheis
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Former President Donald Trump criticized two potential rivals in the GOP’s 2024 race for the White House while traveling to New Hampshire and South Carolina to drum up support for his 2024 campaign.
The former president told reporters on Saturday aboard his plane that DeSantis would not have been governor had Trump not endorsed him ahead of the 2018 Florida gubernatorial election, according to CNN.
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“So, when I hear he might run, I consider that very disloyal,” Trump said.
Saturday’s remark was not the first time Trump has been critical of DeSantis, previously calling the Florida governor “DeSanctimonious” during a rally the weekend before the 2022 midterm elections. DeSantis has yet to announce if he will run for president in 2024, though rumors about his candidacy remain strong.
Another possible GOP candidate for the 2024 presidential election Trump discussed was Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations. The former president revealed that Haley had called him recently to tell him that she is considering a possible 2024 run, with Trump responding that she “should do it.”
“I talked to her for a little while, I said, ‘Look, you know, go by your heart if you want to run,’” Trump said. “She’s publicly said that ‘I would never run against my president, he was a great president.’”
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Haley revealed in a mid-January interview that she believes “I can be that leader” when discussing the possibility of a 2024 run, but asked viewers to “stay tuned.”
Aside from Trump, the only Republican candidate to announce his candidacy for the 2024 election is West Virginia businessman Rollan Roberts II. President Joe Biden has yet to announce if he will seek reelection, but is expected to make an announcement within the coming weeks.