President Trump raved Tuesday about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – trading the ruthless personal attacks he leveled at him in last year’s race for kinder words during a tour of the Everglades’ “Alligator Alcatraz.”
“Ten out of 10 – maybe 9.9,” the president said of the pair’s current relationship while touring the new facility that will soon be used for deportations.
DeSantis, who the president branded “DeSanctimonious” during the bitter 2024 GOP presidential primary contest, greeted Trump in jeans and a blazer on the tarmac of the new facility designed to encourage “self-deportation” because of its unpleasant swampy setting.
“As you know, Ron and I have had a really great relationship,” Trump said at a roundtable event inside the new detention facility.
“We had a little off period for a couple of days,” the president added jokingly — referring to the months of mud-flinging between Trump, 79, and DeSantis, 46, who unsuccessfully argued it was time to turn the page on the then-ex-president.
Trump and DeSantis met in spring 2024 after the governor’s blowout loss in the GOP primaries and have golfed and interacted in passing at a White House event, but Tuesday marked their most protracted public engagement.
DeSantis and Trump interacted warmly as another potential clash takes shape ahead of next year’s gubernatorial election, in which term-limited DeSantis has floated his wife Casey as his potential successor while many of Trump’s supporters are lining up behind Rep. Bryon Donalds.
Trump did not answer Tuesday when a reporter asked if he would back Casey DeSantis for governor.
The “Alligator Alcatraz” facilities features large heavy-duty tents, with dog-kennel-style chain-link fence partitions separating pods of bunk beds.
DeSantis encouraged other states to create equally imposing facilities for migrants and gushed about the Sunshine State’s rush opening, likening it to his COVID-19 management and saying it was “like the monoclonal antibodies thing on steroids.”
