Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis has gone on the offensive against President Donald Trump in recent days, calling out the fact that he continues to be absent from Republican events.
“Donald Trump is missing in action,” Mr. DeSantis said during the second Republican Presidential Debate on Sept. 27.
“He should be on this stage tonight. He owes it to you to defend his record, where they added $7.8 trillion to the debt. That set the stage for the inflation that we have.”
He also addressed President Trump’s attack on Florida’s pro-life policies.
“He’s had a lot to say about that,” said Mr. DeSantis. “He should be here explaining his comments to try to say that pro-life protections are somehow a terrible thing.
“I want him to look into the eyes and tell people who’ve been fighting this fight for a long time.”
After the debate, the governor joined Bill Hemmer on Fox News and continued to push his criticism of the former president.
“He owes it to the voters to defend his record, to defend the decisions he’s made,” he said.
“And also to defend why is he running on the same program in 2016, that he did not actually implement.
“For example, draining the swamp. He didn’t fire Christopher Wray. He didn’t fire Anthony Fauci. He didn’t do anything to clean house.
“Now all of a sudden, he’s going to slay the administrative state when he gave Fauci an award [on] his last day in office?”
Mr. DeSantis said before the debate that President Trump has been attacking him more than any other candidate and more than he is attacking President Joe Biden.
Afterward, he reiterated his criticisms to Mr. Hemmer, specifically of President Trump’s use of social media, and called to meet him on a debate stage face to face.
“You know, it’s one thing to do it behind a keyboard,” he said. “Step up on stage and do it to my face. I’m ready for it.
“He used to say I was a great governor. Now, all of a sudden, you’re saying the opposite? Let’s have that discussion. And I'll do it. We could do one-on-one.”
Mr. DeSantis is already scheduled to debate California governor Gavin Newsom one-on-one on Fox’s “Hannity” on Nov. 30 in Georgia.
The exact location has not been announced.
While speaking with the show’s host, Sean Hannity, immediately after the GOP debate, he introduced the idea of the additional one-on-one bout.
President Trump currently holds a significant lead over Mr. DeSantis in the polls, more than 40 percentage points. But Mr. DeSantis argued against that lead being a justification for his absence, saying: “No one’s entitled to anything.”
“I’m gonna show up everywhere,” he said.“ I think that’s what we were able to do.”
Mr. DeSantis is currently pushing with his Super PAC “Never Back Down” to visit all 99 counties in Iowa. As of Sept. 29, he’s visited 58 of them.
But the Florida governor was not the only candidate to call out Mr. Trump during the debate. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie also called him out in the final minutes of the event, saying “he chickened out of this process.”
“Every person on this stage is showing respect for Republican voters to come here to express your views honestly, candidly, and directly and to take your questions honestly,” he said.
“I have respect for every man and woman on this stage.”
Mr. Christie also criticized President Trump for the division association with his track record.
“This guy has not only divided our party, he’s divided families all over this country. He’s divided friends all over this country.
Both Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Christie now look to qualify for the third GOP Presidential Debate scheduled to be held in Miami on Nov. 8.
President Trump’s campaign has already signaled that he will also skip that debate. But he is set to appear at the Florida Freedom Summit on Nov. 4 in Kissimmee with Mr. DeSantis, as well as fellow Republican candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley.
