Fact Check: Ten False and Misleading Claims in Trump's Latest Anti-DeSantis Rant
Guy Benson
I'm genuinely unsure whether it's even worth making the effort to substantively examine former President Trump's multi-post 'Truth' Social thread hammering Florida Governor Ron DeSantis -- this latest broadside came in response to the latter Republican's interview with Piers Morgan -- but just in case factual information still matters to anyone, let's have a look. First off, I agree with Trump that the highly-publicized televised sit-down is another strong indication that DeSantis is running for president. As for the rest of his points? Here were my short, initial thoughts on Special Report, followed screenshots of Trump's blizzard of claims and assertions about DeSantis and Florida:
(1) Trump touts receiving more votes than DeSantis in Florida. This is true, but it's a weak argument. Trump carried Florida twice, beating Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden by just over one percentage point, and just over three percentage points, respectively. Presidential election turnouts are always much larger than midterm turnouts. DeSantis first won his first gubernatorial term in the blue year of 2018 -- yes, with Trump's help -- by a little more than 30,000 votes statewide, a margin of less than one-half of one percent. Four years later, he won by roughly 1.5 million votes, achieving a victory margin 19 full percentage points better than his 2018 mark. Trump wants to make an apples (presidential turnout) to oranges (midterm turnout) comparison to make it seem like his win was more impressive. Three points versus nearly 20 points, an unheard-of number in Florida, doesn't tell the story Trump wants it to tell -- so he's pointing to raw vote totals instead.
(2) If 'raw votes' versus 'victory margin' is the deeply misleading game Trump wants to play, however, let's look at Trump's raw vote improvement between 2016 and 2020 in Florida. Against Hillary Clinton, Trump collected a little more than 4.6 million votes in the Sunshine State. Four years later, he improved that mark by more than one million votes (nearly 5.7 million), amounting to a three-plus-point overall margin, due to the enormous number of total votes cast (Biden won 5.3 million votes, compared to Clinton's 4.5 million). DeSantis won more votes in Florida last year than Clinton won in the 2016 presidential cycle, flipping blue counties like Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Osceola, all of which Trump decisively lost twice. The governor increased his raw vote total by approximately 1.5 million, better than Trump's 1.1 million improvement.
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https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2023/03/24/fact-checking-trumps-latest-anti-desantis-rant-n2621049
