Trump would ‘destroy’ a DeSantis presidential run with a single tweet, says Nikki Fried, Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate

• Nikki Fried is running for the Democratic nomination for governor to face off against Ron DeSantis.
• DeSantis just posted a $100 million fundraising haul for reelection. 
• Fried said it shows he’s running for president in 2024 and warned Trump would ‘destroy’ him.

MIAMI, Florida— Former President Donald Trump would “destroy” Gov. Ron DeSantis with “one tweet” if both entered the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, said Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried. 

“If in fact President Trump decides to run again, it will be his No. 1 mission to take down Ron DeSantis,” Fried told Insider on Monday. “At the end of the day, Trump made DeSantis with one tweet and if Trump gets back onto Twitter thanks to Elon Musk, then I say one tweet created him and one tweet can destroy him.”

Whether Trump would openly criticize DeSantis has been a topic of huge intrigue in Florida and nationally as the Florida governor recently cleared $100 million for his reelection campaign for governor and sees his national profile rise.

Trump, who is infamous for eviscerating his enemies with a single nickname or tweet, told the Washington Post last week that he “made” DeSantis when he endorsed him for the governor’s race in 2018. The former president shot off a tweet during the GOP primary in which he called DeSantis a “brilliant young leader” and a “true FIGHTER!”

Twitter booted Trump from its platform last year after the social media company determined his incitement of the violent January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol violated its rules.

Fried isn’t the first to wonder whether Musk, the CEO of Tesla, could let Trump back onto the platform given that the entrepreneur became Twitter’s lead shareholder last week. On Monday, however, Twitter announced that Musk would no longer be joining Twitter’s board. 

Though Trump isn’t on Twitter anymore, his inner circle, GOP operatives, and journalists often tweet out his public statements, which come over email and have a similar tone to his tweets. Sometimes, the statements are just as short as Twitter allows. 

DeSantis raised $100 million 

DeSantis is up for reelection as governor and has not said he’s running for president, but he also hasn’t committed to bowing out if Trump runs — as several other Republicans have done such as former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

But on Monday CNN reported that DeSantis’ reelection campaign and his political action committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, together raised more than $100 million. Not all candidates have posted their fundraising totals, but the amount may be higher than any other US governor running in 2022.

Fried is Florida’s agriculture commissioner who running for the Democratic nomination for governor against Rep. Charlie Crist, a Democrat of Florida, and state Sen. Annette Taddeo.

Asked whether the money posed a challenge for Democrats vying to unseat DeSantis, Fried said that instead it showed the governor’s aspirations were in the White House. 

“That $100 million is not being utilized for a governor’s race,” Fried said. “He’s running for president in 2024 so this chest is to get him ready for the presidential run.”

DeSantis would not be able to transfer funds from his campaign to a presidential race, but the money raised through his PAC, which is allowed to raise unlimited funds, could be spent on a run for a different office, including the White House, according to the nonpartisan money-in-politics research organization Open Secrets. 

“One of the benefits of the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC is that it provides options if they don’t end up spending the money,” on the governor’s race, said Brendan Glavin, senior data analyst at Open Secrets.

Friends of Ron DeSantis raised $6 million in March, according to CNN. 

In comparison, Fried has $3 million in campaign cash on hand. The Democratic primary is August 23. 

Presidential buzz surrounds DeSantis not just because of his fundraising but because of his frequent appearances on Fox News, and his high-profile, take-no-prisoners battles with the Biden administration. 

Fried cited those patterns, saying Floridians “don’t want the divisiveness, they don’t want the hatred.”

“They want somebody who is going to get up and lead and take care of the people of our state,” she said, “not divide us which is what he continuously does every single time that he is on the official side and the campaign side.”