Donald Trump is reportedly considering Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) as his replacement defense secretary nominee, and Maggie Haberman unpacked the president-elect’s reasoning for picking a recent critic.
DeSantis, originally considered Trump’s biggest competition for the GOP nomination, was openly critical of the president-elect during the primaries. But he ultimately endorsed Trump and apparently managed to get back in his good books.
“It’s the kind of thing Donald Trump loves, right?” the New York Times reporter said Wednesday on CNN’s “The Source.” “He has told people that privately, that it would be a big story if he brought in somebody who he had had this feud with in a primary.”
“It would be a big story, because he’s a conquest, and he’s somebody who Trump not just beat but trounced in those primaries,” she added.
Democracy In The Balance
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“Ron DeSantis is the person who the New York Post had put on their front page in 2022 as the future,” she continued. “And that obviously did not last. So I understand why for Donald Trump, who we know likes this kind of a narrative about people falling in line with him, this is appealing.”
Moreover, she argued, DeSantis would likely be confirmed easily by the Senate, and he aligns with Trump’s agenda for the military, specifically with regards to targeting what they call “woke” policies.
Trump’s current pick for defense secretary, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, has faced mounting allegations of misconduct in recent weeks, and his chances of confirmation appear to be getting slimmer.
DeSantis, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) are reportedly among the names being floated to replace him.