DeSantis Says Trump ‘Helped Facilitate’ Circumstances That Led to 2020 Election Loss

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn’s “Operation Top Nunn: Salute to Our Troops" fundraiser in Ankeny, Iowa, on July 15, 2023. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said recently that although he shares Donald Trump’s concerns about the lack of security in the 2020 election, he believes the former president laid the foundation for many of the issues that affected the election results.

In an Aug. 7 interview with NBC News, Mr. DeSantis was asked whether Mr. Trump lost the 2020 election.

“Whoever puts their hand on the Bible on Jan. 20 every four years is the winner,” he replied.

Mr. DeSantis said he disagreed with what he described as unconstitutional COVID-era regulations pertaining to the election, such as ballot harvesting, use of “Zucker bucks” by local elections offices, and Big Tech collusion to hide the Hunter Biden laptop story.

“I don’t think it was the perfect election,” he said. “How could it be the most secure with those millions of mail-in ballots going out at the same time after the election?”

He criticized the Trump administration for allowing those policies to go into effect, but also said that allegations about voting machines switching votes in favor of Mr. Biden were false, stating that “none of those theories proved to be true.”

Mr. DeSantis said the mass mail-in ballots and COVID lockdowns were the result of the Trump administration turning over its authority to Dr. Anthony Fauci, and that the pandemic-era CARES Act—which Mr. Trump signed—“funded mail-in ballots across the country.”

“At the end of the day, you know, Donald Trump helped facilitate that whole set of circumstances.”

Ballot Harvesting

Regarding ballot harvesting, Mr. DeSantis said although Florida has banned the practice, his campaign will take advantage of the strategy in other states where it is legal, such as Nevada.

“We will not let them run circles around us,“ he said. ”We’re not going to fight with one hand tied behind our backs.”

Mr. Trump is battling an indictment that accuses him of attempting to overturn election results.

The indictment, filed by special counsel Jack Smith on Aug. 1, charges the former president with a conspiracy to “impair, obstruct, and defeat” the collection and counting of electoral votes, obstruction of the electoral vote counting by Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, conspiracy to obstruct the electoral vote counting, and a conspiracy against Americans’ right to vote.

Mr. Trump has also embraced ballot harvesting.

In a Fox News interview in July, Sean Hannity asked Mr. Trump whether he would “now encourage and embrace early voting, voting by mail, and legal ballot harvesting.”

“I do,” Mr. Trump replied.

In fundraising emails sent by the Trump campaign earlier in February, Mr. Trump made it clear that he was embracing ballot harvesting.

“The radical Democrats have used ballot harvesting to cancel out YOUR vote and walk away with elections that they NEVER should have won. But I’m doing something HUGE to fight back,” an email said.

Former President Donald Trump pauses for cheers from the crowd before speaking as the keynote speaker at the 56th Annual Silver Elephant Dinner hosted by the South Carolina Republican Party in Columbia, S.C., on Aug. 5, 2023. Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images

Mr. Trump said in a recent interview with Breitbart that Mr. DeSantis is “crashing badly” in the 2024 presidential race.

Mr. DeSantis has laid off dozens of campaign staffers, claiming that the campaign is being rebooted. Mr. Trump dismissed the idea that the Florida governor could successfully reboot his campaign. The 2024 lead contender insisted that Mr. DeSantis “just has no personality.”

Meanwhile, polls show Mr. Trump has a massive lead over Mr. DeSantis in the 2024 GOP primaries for the presidential race.

An Aug. 1 Morning Consult survey showed Mr. Trump had the support of 58 percent of potential GOP primary voters, which is almost four times the 15 percent support that Mr. DeSantis had garnered in second place.

Meanwhile, Mr. DeSantis is also facing the possibility of losing the support of his biggest donor.

“He does need to shift to get to moderates. He'll lose if he doesn’t. ... Extremism isn’t going to get you elected,” hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow said in a recent interview with Reuters.

Mr. Bigelow, the founder of Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace, donated $20 million to the pro-DeSantis “Never Back Down” super PAC in March.

Trump Indictment Support

Mr. DeSantis has extended support to Mr. Trump in the Jan. 6 indictment case.

Regarding the indictment, the Florida governor said in an Aug. 2 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he will “end the weaponization of government, replace the FBI Director, and ensure a single standard of justice for all Americans” once elected to the White House in 2024.

“While I’ve seen reports, I have not read the indictment. I do, though, believe we need to enact reforms so that Americans have the right to remove cases from Washington, DC to their home districts. Washington, DC is a ‘swamp’ and it is unfair to have to stand trial before a jury that is reflective of the swamp mentality,” Mr. DeSantis said.

In an interview with Megyn Kelly in late July, Mr. DeSantis had indicated that if elected, he could pardon Mr. Trump if he is convicted in any of the several cases that have been filed against him.

“What I’ve said is very simple. I’m going to do what’s right for the country,” he said. “I don’t think it would be good for the country to have an almost 80-year-old former president go to prison.”