DeSantis to meet donors in New York’s Southampton next week to pitch campaign’s ‘long game’ against Trump

Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to travel to Southampton, New York, next week for a private meeting with donors. 

Fox Business senior correspondent Charlie Gasparino was told DeSantis, who has stalled in polls, will face questions from major East Coast donors during the meeting about the viability of his campaign. DeSantis is reportedly planning to tell donors he’s playing the “long game” against the current GOP front-runner, former President Donald Trump. 

People close to DeSantis and the governor himself are telling donors concerned about the polls to “ignore the noise” and that media Democrats “are just making trouble so that Trump is the nominee” and Biden wins again because of Trump’s perceived baggage.

Most of the Republican congressional delegation from New York has so far resisted endorsing either Trump or DeSantis. A recent DeSantis fundraiser in Rockland County, New York, drew some organizational woes among local party leaders last month, and the venue was shifted from Republican Rep. Mike Lawler’s district, which remains a key Democrat House target in 2024.

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DeSantis recently appeared on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” where host Maria Bartiromo referenced a Fox News poll of 2024 GOP presidential nominee preference among Republican primary voters that showed Trump earning 56%. DeSantis, in second, was polling at 22%. Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Tim Scott and Nikki Haley were polling in the single digits.  

“I think one of the reasons Donald Trump is in the lead is because of the corruption and the unfairness of our justice system. I want to know what you’re going to do?” Bartiromo asked. 

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“We will end the weaponization of government,” DeSantis said in response. “And that’s, of course, a new FBI director on day one. That’s the difference from me and Donald Trump. He says the jury’s still out on FBI Director Wray. I think you need a new start on day one. We’re going to clean house at the Department of Justice.” 

Placing blame on Trump’s leadership, DeSantis argued that when it comes to the Justice Department’s hand in having Twitter censor the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 election, that “those were Donald Trump’s own agencies that were colluding with Big Tech.” 

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Bartiromo also asked DeSantis to respond to a recent story in Politico’s Playbook that said, “Failure to launch: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign to topple Donald Trump has stalled.” It quoted a DeSantis PAC official as saying, “We are way behind,” drawing laughter from DeSantis during the Fox News appearance. 

“Maria, these are narratives. The media does not want me to be the nominee,” DeSantis said. “I think that’s very, very clear. Why? Because they know I’ll beat Biden. But even more importantly, they know that I will actually deliver on all these things. We will stop the invasion at the border. We’ll take on the drug cartels. We’ll curtail the administrative state. We’ll get spending under control. We’ll do all the things that they don’t want to see done, and so, they’re going to continue doing that type of narrative.” 

Meanwhile, Haley, who is trailing way behind Trump and DeSantis at just 3% in the polls, told The New York Times in an interview published Sunday she expects the presidential race “is going to be totally different” by mid-fall. 

“Once you pass Labor Day, the numbers start to shift. And you can look at history for that. That’s not me just hoping, that’s me knowing,” Haley said.