Democratic strategist James Carville weighed in on the rising tensions between former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Trump is running for the 2024 GOP nomination, and DeSantis is seen as a likely challenger. The former president has repeatedly lashed out at DeSantis for not ruling out a run after Trump endorsed him for governor in 2018.
DeSantis has largely ignored Trump’s broadsides as the former president has surged in the polls in recent weeks. If DeSantis does declare his candidacy, he is going to have to take on the de facto leader of his party directly.
On Thursday’s edition of MSNBC’s The Beat, Carville quoted former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson to explain DeSantis’s situation:
DeSantis proves the wisdom of Mike Tyson. Everybody’s got a plan until you hit him in the mouth. That guy, he doesn’t know whether to wind his rear or scratch his watch. And he tried to play in the league that he can’t play in, and that’s pretty evident. I mean, he’s a confused guy and, you know, Trump hit him in the mouth and he lost his plan. He just went totally off-key. So, my hat’s off to Iron Mike.
Host Ari Melber responded by understating his guest’s response.
“It sounds like you’re not impressed that DeSantis is really up there the way he’s been built up and we haven’t seen him in national settings and long-form interviews and debates,” he said.
DeSantis is taking flak from MAGA world, which views him as insufficiently loyal to the man they say launched him into the spotlight in 2018 after serving as a backbencher in the U.S. House of Representatives.
