DeSantis says 'insult game turns voters off'
Republican presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis rattled off a list of what he deemed to be broken 2016 campaign promises by former President Donald Trump, saying he’d rather attack the GOP front-runner on the issues than personality.
"Substantively, we've been very frank about our differences with respect to the former president," the Florida governor said. "I mean, for example, he promised to drain the swamp – it got worse. He did not drain the swamp.
"He promised to have Mexico pay for a border wall. They did like 50 miles of wall. There's massive expanses still there," he continued. "He said he was going to eliminate the national debt. They added almost $8 trillion to the debt in four years.
"And of course, in 2020, he turned the country over to Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, and those lockdowns and the borrowing and printing really set us on a bad course," he added. "I've been very, very frank at that."
Republican presidential candidates Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump (Getty Images)
TRUMP ATTACKS DESANTIS 4 TIMES MORE THAN BIDEN AS 2024 RACE HEATS UP
DeSantis made the comments Sunday on Fox News Channel’s "Media Buzz" after anchor Howard Kurtz referred to recent criticism by fellow GOP candidate Chris Christie.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis arrives at a campaign event in Eagle Pass, Texas, on June 26, 2023. (Sergio Flores/Washington Post via Getty Images)
Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, has accused other Republican candidates of "playing footsie" with Trump and credited himself as the only one willing to insult the former president.
"I don't do insults, so that is true," DeSantis responded Sunday. "I think just getting in this insult game turns voters off. It's not something I want to do."
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a Nevada Republican volunteer recruiting event on July 8, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
"I have no interest in attacking Donald Trump or any of these other candidates personally. I think we’ve got to rise above that and let's focus on the issues," he added.
The Trump campaign responded to DeSantis' remarks by calling him a loser.
"Ron DeSantis is a loser and has clearly mismanaged his supporters' donations and that's why he's forced to cut staff and roll back his flailing campaign," a campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital Sunday afternoon. "If he can't even run his own campaign correctly, how can he run a country?"
Jessica Chasmar is a digital writer on the politics team for Fox News and Fox Business. Story tips can be sent to
