DeSantis defenders cast the chatter as a sour-grapes narrative.
“Some selfish politicians and political operatives observe the special relationship between the president and governor with envy, so they try to cast their own hurt feelings as conflict through anonymous quotes to reporters,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), an ally of both Trump and DeSantis.
He said the relationship between the two is “at a zenith,” noting they’ve worked together on Everglades restoration, hurricane relief, and prescription drug prices.
Florida GOP spokesperson Alia Faraj-Johnson also said the two remain close.
“The Governor’s close relationship with the President is steadfast and goes beyond a campaign or re-election efforts,” she said in an email. “The governor is committed to delivering Florida to the President, and appropriately, is focused on governing and addressing the critical needs of our state.”
“The comments made by those who claim to be RPOF insiders demonstrates that they are clearly in the dark,” Faraj-Johnson said. “We are stronger than ever and have just begun our planned spending on a massive voter registration effort.”
Some of the finger-pointing is directed at the handful of DeSantis advisers who comprise his tight-knit political inner circle. That includes people running the Republican Party of Florida, which will need to do some heavy lifting to deliver Florida, a must-win state, to Trump.
“It might not be a DeSantis problem, but there is definitely a f–– problem,” said another Trump campaign staffer.
The Florida GOP, a topic of much scrutiny, has undergone a dramatic face-lift since DeSantis took office in January 2019, an operation that wasn’t a total success.
After taking the oath of office, DeSantis dispatched his wife and chief of staff to Florida GOP headquarters to purge aides deemed too close to GOP consultant Susie Wiles, who had helped DeSantis get elected and was given the task of building the party ahead of 2020.
DeSantis installed Peter O’Rourke, a former Trump administration official, as the party’s executive director. The political novice had close ties to Marvel Entertainment chairman and GOP donor Ike Perlmutter, but little campaign experience.
O’Rourke hired Perlmutter’s longtime security consultant to conduct an audit of the Florida GOP, but his efforts — and by extension DeSantis’ — to build the blocking-and-tackling infrastructure needed to win a presidential election were lacking, said the person familiar with Trump’s reelection campaign.
O’Rourke submitted his resignation letter on Feb. 28, and his departure was announced Tuesday to party officials. It is effective March 13.
“Florida doesn’t have a political leader at the moment who is working to reelect the president,” the person said. “The state party doesn’t seem to be building a significant ground game because they lack resources and direction. The state executive director has zero experience building a GOTV operation, which is why there has been no movement.”
The person pointed to Democrat Mike Bloomberg’s campaign offices across the state, which likely will serve as party field offices for the eventual Democratic nominee.
“It is incredibly important that the state party gets in front of it,” said the campaign staffer, “and right now that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
Also simmering is $3.5 million raised at the Florida GOP’s annual statesman’s dinner. DeSantis has been accused of sitting on the money instead of releasing for 2020 party-building.
The dinner, the party’s biggest annual event, initially was canceled in October as tension grew between DeSantis and state party Chairman Joe Gruters. A day later, DeSantis shocked everyone when he announced the event was back on and that Trump would be the keynote speaker.
Gruters was unaware the announcement was coming — as was team Trump, which at that point had not yet formalized a date for the event, putting the White House in an awkward position.
The $3.5 million has been an issue ever since, and came up last month on a conference call between Trump campaign staff and Florida Republicans.
“A growing point of friction between the chairman, governor and Trump’s reelection has been the money raised from the dinner in December,” said a person familiar with party finances who was on the call. “The lack of money being available to the general party is making people around the president suspicious of what the governor is trying to accomplish.”
“It’s getting to the point where something has to change or Trump will have to get involved,” the person added.
Faraj-Johnson said the party does not comment publicly on its finances.
One Florida Republican put the relationship this way: “I think there’s only so much disloyalty Trump can take from someone who owes his entire political career to him.”
Source: politico.com
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