DeSantis faces few good options on Trump indictment

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) finds himself in a difficult position as former President Trump dominates the news cycle in the wake of his indictment.

The Florida governor is walking a fine line between wanting to knock Trump from first place and not alienating Trump’s voters, who are firmly against the indictment.

DeSantis condemned the Justice Department’s actions after news of Trump’s indictment broke last week, but he has since kept a low profile. 

However, many Republicans say that DeSantis needs to take the opportunity to argue that he is more electable than the former president. 

“The indictment speaks for itself though. These are serious national security issues. Is some of this politically motivated? Sure,” said Dan Eberhart, a DeSantis donor. 

“The bottom line is that this consumed the first Trump presidency. It made good policy harder to enact and sustain. And if Trump is the nominee again, it will consume another four years,” he said. “DeSantis needs to make the case to voters that we can have the good conservative policies, the strong economic recovery, without all the drama.” 

Some Republicans have slowly started to change their tune on Trump’s latest indictment, with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley saying Trump’s behavior was “incredibly reckless” if the indictment is true while also later suggesting she is “inclined in favor of a pardon” for Trump if she was president. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence said in an interview with the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal that Trump faces “serious allegations” and that he “can’t defend what is alleged.” Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) told reporters that it’s a “serious case with serious allegations.”

But, save for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, none of the GOP presidential candidates have seriously criticized the former president over the allegations waged in the federal indictment. 

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday found about 8 in 10 Republican respondents believe that the federal indictment was politically motivated. A separate ABC News/Ipsos poll found close to half of respondents — 47 percent — believe it was a politically motivated indictment, including 80 percent of Republicans surveyed. 

Even after what is now two indictments — and with more criminal investigations looming — Trump’s approval has barely budged.

Among Republican and Republican-leaning voters, 53 percent said they would support the former president in a GOP primary, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. That’s down 3 points from a survey in late May.

Last week, DeSantis responded to news of the indictment by calling it a “weaponization of federal law enforcement.” He also noted what he has said is a double standard between Trump and former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. DeSantis further addressed the indictment in an interview with conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt. 

“I think when you talk about two standards of justice if you have extraordinary zeal on one side, and then a complete indifference and a lack of zeal on the other, you know, that’s a huge, huge imbalance. And I think that’s something that we’ll certainly rectify when I become president,” DeSantis said. 

And on the morning of Trump’s indictment, DeSantis rolled out his plan to restructure the “weaponized” Justice Department (DOJ). 

“We’ve seen throughout this country that the DOJ and the FBI are controlled by one faction of our society,” DeSantis said in a campaign call Saturday first reported by Real Clear Politics. On the call, he claimed that the department has also gone after other conservative circles, including anti-abortion activists. The call was reportedly scheduled before news broke of the indictment. 

The pro-DeSantis PAC Never Back Down also released a video Tuesday hitting Biden and his administration’s Justice Department. 

“As the Governor stated after the indictment, the weaponization and politization of our federal law enforcement is a very real issue and represents a mortal threat to a free society,” Dave Vasquez, press secretary for Never Back Down, said in a statement to The Hill. “The reality is, Ron DeSantis is the only one who can stand up to this threat and root out the entrenched bias in our federal government. A DeSantis administration would bring real accountability to the DOJ, eradicate political bias, and put an end to the weaponization of our government agencies against conservatives.”

While former Trump campaign adviser David Urban noted that criticizing federal agencies and labeling their actions as a “weaponization” of law enforcement is “the safe space to be,” he also said he believes there is a way for DeSantis to balance criticizing the Justice Department and attacking Trump.

“If you’re running against Donald Trump, you gotta go through Donald Trump to win, right? But you have to do it delicately and smartly,” Urban explained. 

“… both things can be true: [The] DOJ can be screwed up, but the underlying offense can still be pretty bad,” he added.

But some Republicans argue that DeSantis’s talking points are only echoing those of Trump and that the Florida governor needs to hit the former president head-on over the indictment.

“Donald Trump gave a speech last night, where he said ‘I’m a victim,’ and all of the Republican candidates are saying that Trump is a victim,” GOP strategist Doug Heye said. “And they may be saying it in different ways and they may try and take an opportunity — a very small crack here or there — but they’re ultimately reinforcing Trump’s message.”

“How would you then expect the party to do anything but intensify initial support for Trump?” he added.

Not all Republicans are convinced DeSantis should run as Trump without that baggage. 

“In the eyes of most Republican primary voters, that baggage is illegitimate,” said Justin Sayfie, a Florida-based GOP strategist. “It’s being thrust upon the former president for partisan, political purposes, so from that perspective, criticizing the baggage will actually hurt you with Republican primary voters.” 

“You do what Gov. DeSantis has done and you criticize the people that are giving him the baggage,” he added. 

Sayfie also pushed back on the notion that the indictment puts DeSantis in a difficult spot. 

“The benefit of this is, I don’t know, how much has Donald Trump criticized Ron DeSantis in the last 72 hours?” he said. “Trump is not punching at DeSantis anymore. He’s tied up and wrapped up in defending his own situation.” 

Others echoed that point, noting that it was too early in the cycle for DeSantis to take Trump on directly. 

“The story is going to be told itself without DeSantis or anybody else really driving that point home in the moment,” said Jim Merrill, a New Hampshire-based GOP strategist. “You’ve got to ride this out in the short term, you’ve got to stay on your strategy.” 

Trump, on the other hand, was in full campaign mode Tuesday after he was arraigned at a federal courthouse in Miami. The president made a stop at a popular Cuban restaurant in Little Havana before he flew back to Bedminster, N.J., to address his supporters and meet with donors.

The stop in Little Havana stands to play well with a Republican primary electorate, given the conservative lean of the Cuban American community and Miami-Dade’s recent shift toward the right. 

“That was a stroke of genius,” said Ford O’Connell, a Florida-based Republican strategist. “When your calling card for 2024 is Florida and the president goes into a revered, political hotspot and is greeted like a hero, that not only sends a message to Florida primary voters, but it also sends a message to Republican primary voters nationally.” 

Meanwhile, DeSantis was off the campaign trail, and all seemed quiet in Tallahassee. 

“The election is not next week,” Sayfie said. “There’s a lot of runway ahead. This is one big, but still far-off event.”