Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wasted no time attacking former President Donald Trump in Wednesday night’s Republican debate, taking Trump to task over his refusal to attend the event.
As soon as the debate began, DeSantis used his first opportunity to speak to take shots at the former president.
“Donald Trump is missing in action,” said the Florida Republican. “He should be on this stage tonight. He owes it to you to defend his record of increasing the debt by $7.8 trillion, which laid the foundation for the inflation we have.”
His comments drew applause from the audience.
DeSantis’ momentum is a departure from the way he usually skirts around the Trump issue. For months, he routinely defended Trump – while Trump attacked him.
The former president may not have been on stage at Wednesday’s debate, but he’s soaring above it all. He remains the party’s standard bearer Even though he has already been impeached twice and is currently facing four different charges.
As the GOP debate continued, DeSantis’ super PAC sent out an email taking another swipe at Trump and suggesting he was afraid to confront DeSantis.
“Trump is too weak and too scared to debate Ron DeSantis,” the Never Back Down email reads.
“Trump attacks DeSantis daily via email and on social media – but he’s too afraid to do it in person on the debate stage because he knows his record on issues like COVID and Fauci, spending and debt and “Cannot defend the draining of the swamp,” the email reads.
“Trump always mocked Democrats who were too afraid to face their opponents on the debate stage,” it continued. “Now it’s Trump who is too afraid to debate.”