Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) took a jab at former President Donald Trump on Tuesday, predicting that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential bid would hurt Trump if he were the Republican nominee in 2024 because of his handling of COVID-19 and past praise of Dr. Anthony Fauci amid the pandemic.
“RFK Jr. will be a vessel for anti-lockdown and anti-Fauci voters if Trump is the nominee,” DeSantis said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire. “If I’m the nominee, they all go to me because I stood up against Fauci, I’m going to clean out CDC, and all those. It’s a big part of my platform.”
“With Trump though, he created Fauci. He elevated Fauci. He never fired him,” DeSantis continued. “He said that he did everything right during COVID, claims that he saved 100 million lives you know, with the MRNA vaccine and all this stuff. And I think those voters who are understandably still very frustrated with how this federal government handled COVID and the lies that were told and all the mistakes that were made with no accountability, they’re going to want a vessel for that.”
DeSantis added that he thinks RFK Jr.’s bid would hurt Trump “way more” than any other candidate, and said it would become “an even tougher uphill battle” in key swing states such as Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada.
“We need to put our best foot forward here,” DeSantis finished. “I will be the vessel for people that want accountability for COVID.”
RFK Jr. drew criticism from a number of conservatives after announcing earlier in October that he would no longer run as a Democrat, but as an Independent instead.
“Make no mistake—a Democrat in Independent’s clothing is still a Democrat,” Republican National Committee Ronna McDaniel said in a statement after the announcement.
Recent polling has shown RFK Jr.’s candidacy would mainly draw Republican voters—not predominantly Democratic support.
A USA Today/Suffolk University poll released Monday found Trump and President Joe Biden to be tied at 37% in a hypothetical match-up, with RFK Jr. pulling 13%.
Without RFK Jr.’s candidacy, Trump would edge Biden 41%-39%.
