Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis might have shown his hand regarding a potential run for president next year.
DeSantis has been mum about seeking the Republican Party nomination.
Thus far, only two candidates have entered the race with former President Donald Trump. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was joined in the primary by anti-woke tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday.
DeSantis is widely considered a contender despite the fact that he has not announced any intention to run.
Trump has preemptively taken on the Florida governor at rallies and in posts on Truth Social. He has also given his potential primary rival a nickname: Ron DeSanctimonious.
But DeSantis has stayed quiet about Trump — until now.
David Smith of The Guardian obtained an advance copy of DeSantis’ upcoming book, “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival.”
The book will hit shelves on Tuesday, and it reveals much about what Florida’s superstar governor thinks about the country’s 45th president.
Surprisingly, as Smith noted on Wednesday, DeSantis offers high praise for Trump, not only for helping him court Florida Republicans in the state’s crowded 2018 primary, but for challenging the D.C. swamp.
DeSantis also credits Trump with building a nationwide political movement that succeeded in unifying voters against the Washington establishment in 2016.
“Trump also brought a unique star power to the race,” DeSantis wrote in the book. “If someone had asked me, as a kid growing up in the eighties and nineties, to name someone who was rich, I — and probably nearly all my friends — would have responded by naming Donald Trump.”
DeSantis also bucks the establishment by portraying Trump’s influence over the GOP as positive.
“Some DC commentators have opined that Donald Trump’s nomination represented a hostile takeover of the Republican Party,” DeSantis wrote. “But this analysis gets it exactly backward.”
The governor also compares Trump to one of the Republican Party’s most revered figures: former President Ronald Reagan.
“Since Ronald Reagan flew back to California on January 20, 1989, the GOP grass roots had been longing for someone who rejected the old-guard way of doing business and who could speak to their concerns and aspirations,” DeSantis wrote.
He added, “Trump supported policies that appealed to the base in a way that GOP leaders in the DC swamp had been either incapable of doing or unwilling to do.”
Smith predicted Democrats would use DeSantis’ words as “evidence that potential Republican candidates are still wary of assailing Trump directly because of his power over the party base.”
DeSantis does not exactly give off the impression that he is ready to enter into a mudslinging match against Trump.
Instead, a man many believe could lead the GOP into the future highlights his success in Florida and gives Trump credit for helping him get there with an early endorsement.
“I knew that a Trump endorsement would provide me with the exposure to GOP primary voters across the State of Florida, and I was confident that many would see me as a good candidate once they learned about my record,” DeSantis wrote.
DeSantis could announce a run for the White House tomorrow.
But it is difficult to imagine someone as politically savvy as the Florida Republican making the decision to take on the man he made a point of praising in his much-anticipated book.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.