Ex-Trump adviser who backed DeSantis comes full circle: ‘Only Trump Can Save America’

Steve Cortes, a onetime adviser for former President Trump who backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in the GOP primary, has come full circle, penning a new op-ed titled “Only Trump Can Save America.”

Cortes, who served as an adviser to Trump’s 2016 and 2020 election campaigns, became a critic of the former president for his “vicious” attacks on former staffers. He then joined the Never Back Down super PAC supporting DeSantis, but he stepped down in October.

“Those of us who backed Ron DeSantis — or the other Republican candidates ­— should read the room. Former President Trump winnowed the field effortlessly and then crushed the remaining three candidates in Iowa. He leads in the polls everywhere else,” Cortes wrote Wednesday in Real Clear Politics.

“It is time to coalesce and unite behind the clear preference of the GOP grassroots, Donald John Trump.”

Trump easily won the Iowa GOP caucuses Monday, the first major test of the 2024 Republican primary race. According to The Hill’s partner Decision Desk HQ, Trump is leading the remaining candidates by a wide margin nationally. Trump has 64.4 percent support, compared to 11.8 percent for former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, and 11.3 percent for DeSantis.

Cortes said the America First movement is “bigger and more important than any one individual,” warning in his op-ed that the GOP does not have the luxury of “internal strife” over who the nominee should be.

The former adviser said voters are rallying around Trump despite his many ongoing legal battles. He blamed President Biden for high crime rates, the influx of migrants arriving at the southern border, “a subversive educational system,” and economic anxiety.

“At such a flashpoint in history like this one, political unity among conservatives is an imperative. A second Biden term would risk the permanent loss of our republic as we know it,” Cortes wrote, adding that Vice President Harris becoming president would be even more bleak.

“It is time to unify behind former President Trump as he leads the battle against the ruling class and the oligarchs intent on destroying the American way of life,” Cortes concluded. “I implore all patriotic populists to join as I pledge to do all I can to work for Trump’s cause, just as I proudly did in 2016 and 2020.”