Trump dodges question on whether DeSantis would be a ‘good president’ in the future

Former President Trump dodged a question on whether Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will make a “good president” in the future in a new interview.

Newsmax host Greg Kelly asked the former president in an interview that aired Monday night if DeSantis “could be a good president someday,” noting that Trump was “crushing” the governor in the polls.

“Well, I endorsed and once and he was losing badly and because of the endorsement he won in a landslide literally the following day,” Trump responded. “Look right now I’m going down on him, I’m a believer in loyalty and I’m a believer in other things.”

“He has obviously not run a very good campaign because he’s getting he’s getting crushed. So I really don’t know. I don’t know. You know, I don’t know him that well,” he added.

Trump has attacked DeSantis in recent weeks as the Florida governor mulls a potential bid for the White House, even though he has yet to announce an official campaign for the presidency. Trump has also repeatedly taken credit for DeSantis’s election to the governor’s office, recounting multiple times that DeSantis came to him with “tears in his eyes” to ask for his endorsement.

“I’m very disappointed in him because I’m a loyal person, maybe to a fault,” Trump said Monday. “I’m a loyal person. And if somebody gets you into office and you’re telling people ‘Well, I don’t know if I’ll run against the president.’ Life shouldn’t have to work that way. But it does and that’s okay too. A lot of people said loyalty doesn’t mean anything. To me, loyalty means a lot.”

 A new Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll last week found that 55 percent of respondents who identified as Republicans would back Trump in a hypothetical matchup with other potential GOP contenders including DeSantis, who had the second highest share of the votes at 20 percent.

The Hill reached out to DeSantis’s team for comment.