Ron DeSantis shrugs off Trump attacks and vows ‘no drama’ leadership as GOP poll numbers sag

Ron DeSantis laughed off former President Donald Trump’s derisive nicknames for him and bragged of being a “no drama” leader even as polls show him falling further behind in the 2024 Republican presidential primary race.

The Florida governor told British journalist Piers Morgan that “I kinda like” Trump’s favored “Ron DeSanctimonious” moniker although he claims to not understand what it means.

“You can call me whatever you want, just as long as you also call me a winner,” DeSantis told Morgan in an interview that will air Thursday on Fox News. “Because that’s what we’ve been able to do in Florida … put a lot of points on the board and really take this state to the next level.”

DeSantis, who hasn’t announced a White House campaign, dismissed Trump’s regular nasty attacks on him as “background noise.”

“It’s not important for me to be fighting with people on social media,” DeSantis said. “It’s not accomplishing anything … So, I don’t think it’s something that makes sense for me.”

Although DeSantis avoided mentioning Trump by name, he boasted of his own management style that he suggested is more effective than the former president’s.

“The way we run the government, I think, is: No daily drama; focus on the big picture,” he said.

The new interview comes as Trump deals with myriad legal woes including a possible indictment in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.

DeSantis attacked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for what he claimed was a partisan persecution of Trump. But he also suggested that Trump’s personal failings led to him getting embroiled in the case.

Trump and his MAGA allies fired back at DeSantis for what right-wing extremist Steve Bannon called a “weasely” approach to the looming indictment.

“While I am fighting against Radical Left Lunatics, Persecutors, and unfair Prosecutors who want to destroy us all, Ron DeSanctimonious is … busy chatting with a Ratings Challenged TV Host from England,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “[He’s] desperately trying to rescue his failing Campaign.”

DeSantis has been falling steadily in recent GOP presidential polls pitting him against Trump in recent months.

Trump leads DeSantis by a 41%-to-27% margin in a Monmouth poll of likely Republican primary voters released Wednesday.

That’s a dramatic reversal from the same poll’s findings as recently as December, when DeSantis was leading Trump.