Donald Trump took advantage of the freewheeling format of a televised town hall to attack his main remaining opponents, ridiculing Ron DeSantis and predicting the impending end of his run.
Trump even slipped in a shot at DeSantis’ footwear, shoehorning in the dig in the middle of an lengthy and nuanced answer about abortion policy, where he restated his support for exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or the life of the mother.
‘If you look at it, Ron DeSantis, I don’t know what he really believes because you know, you never know with a politician and he is just another politician as far as I’m concerned,’ Trump said.
‘But, his poll numbers have gone down to a level that he is going to be out of the race very soon. He’s going to be out very soon. You know, I watched him last night, he is standing up with his shoes – his fancy shoes,’ Trump said.
The line got a laugh from the crowd, which included many people who said they were Trump supporters. It was a reference to claims DeSantis wears concealed lifts in his boots.
Former President Donald Trump predicted rival Ron DeSantis would be out of the race ‘very soon’ in comments at a Fox News town hall Wednesday night
Trump also got a laugh when he called DeSantis ‘Ron Desanctimonious’ while responding to a question of whether he would ever allow a COVID shutdown as president.
The initial lockdowns took place on his watch, but Trump noted that governors drove health emergency policies in their states.
Trump also appeared to say DeSantis’ problems were linked to his signing in April of a Florida bill to ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.
‘He is going to be out of the race within — you know, a lot of people say before New Hampshire. I don’t know if that were the reason. I hope it wasn’t the reason. I hope it is for other reasons. I could see a lot of other reasons why he shouldn’t be. But he is doing very, very poorly. It happened to coincide with that because a lot of people say a lot of, you know, if you talk five or six weeks, a lot of women don’t know if they are pregnant in five or six weeks.
Trump predicted DeSantis, who is running second to him in Iowa, would drop out before New Hampshire, saying ‘a lot of people’ are saying so
Trump agreed Nikki Haley would get ‘smoked’
Chris Christie got caught on a hot mic predicted a Haley blowout
Trump kicked Ron DeSantis by calling him ‘fancy shoes’
Trump found a way to insult both Chris Christie, who announced Wednesday he was suspending his campaign, and Nikki Haley, after Christie gave him the gift of a ‘hot mic’ moment.
Christie was heard saying Haley would get ‘smoked,’ an idea Trump endorsed.
‘And he happened to say that she doesn’t have what it takes. She’ll be creamed in the – in the election. And – I mean, I know her very well and I happen to believe that Chris Christie is right. That’s one of the few things he’s been right about actually,’ Trump said.
Trump’s rivals weren’t in a position to defend themselves: they were debating each other nearby.
Went Trump claimed DeSantis ‘shut his state down very violently’ in 2020, it was left to MacCallum to interject that ‘Ron DeSantis would definitely argue with your characterization of how he handled it.’