Ron DeSantis accuses Donald Trump of 'flight to the left'

Ron DeSantis began to criticize Donald Trump

Ron DeSantis accused Donald Trump of «running left» in his first direct attack against his Republican rival.

The Florida governor has so far avoided targeting the former 76-year-old U.S. president, who has launched a series of scathing attacks on him.

But DeSantis, 44, said that Trump has abandoned right-wing principles and cannot win the national vote.

«It looks like he's running to the left, and I've always been someone who just stuck to conservative principles,» Mr. DeSantis said in an interview with Tennessee radio host Matt Murphy.

“This is going to be an interesting debate, but I can tell you that you won't win nationally by going left. You win nationally by advocating bold policies. We showed it in Florida. I never softened anything I did.”

“I don't know what happened to Donald Trump,” Mr. DeSantis said. «He's a different guy today than when he ran in 2015 and 2016 and I think the direction he's going with his campaign is the wrong direction.»

Donald Trump launched a series of sharp attacks on Ron DeSantis. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP

The attack comes just days after Mr. DeSantis launched a Twitter Spaces car crash campaign with Elon Musk that was marred by technical glitches.

Several hundred thousand listeners logged in to listen, as a GOP candidate officially asserts his rights to the GOP nomination, but they are met with silence, noise feedback and bizarre music.

The disastrous launch led to a frenzy at the Trump campaign, pumping out video after video mocking the launch.

“Wow! The launch of DeSanctus on Twitter is a disaster! His entire campaign will be a disaster. Watch!» Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social after the launch, «Is DeSantis' launch fatal…Yes!»

Mr. Trump also shared several popular videos on his social media platform, Truth Social, in which he accused Mr. DeSantis of betrayal.

Since the failed launch, Mr. DeSantis has been in resistance mode, claiming his launch was so popular that it «blew up the internet» and repeatedly appeared in the media.

Within 24 hours of announcing his application, Mr. DeSantis's campaign raised a record $8.2 million in donations.

In a separate interview, Mr. DeSantis said Trump's early Covid policy «ruined the lives of millions.»

Mr. DeSantis is now more than 30 points behind Mr. Trump, according to an average FiveThirtyEight poll conducted in Thursday.