Brexit leader Nigel Farage predicted a “titanic clash” between Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the two leading Republican candidates for President in 2024.
On Wednesday morning, speaking from the midterm battleground state of Arizona, Nigel Farage said that while Republican gains in Congress will limit President Biden’s ability to govern, the failure of a so-called “Red Wave” to materialise will likely elevate Ron DeSantis in the eyes of conservative voters.
This is because it will not provide the “huge springboard” Donald Trump had hoped for before his expected announcement of his intention to run for president again.
Discussions “within the Republican party as to whether they should pick Trump or DeSantis will reach fever pitch, in my opinion, over the next few weeks, and I say that as a friend of Donald Trump,” Farage said.
While the Red Wave did not appear to materialise, Governor DeSantis swept to a stunning victory, defeating his Democrat opponent, former governor Charlie Christ, by nearly 20%, up from a 0.4% victory in the 2018 election that saw him become governor of Florida.
DeSantis said in a speech from Tampa that Florida has “rewritten the political map” after making dramatic gains in former Democratic strongholds like Miami-Dade County.
Mr Farage predicted that because of the Florida governor’s large margin of victory, “the numbers supporting DeSantis will be much higher than they were before, so there could be a really titanic clash here between two alpha males.”
Even though Brexiteer believes that if the election were held now, Trump would have the “overwhelming support” of the Republican base, Farage believes that DeSantis is now a “serious challenger to that position,” given his proven ability to persuade voters outside of the party’s base.