It was reported by ConservativeBrief that allies of former President Donald Trump suspect that McConnell is behind reports of a growing rift between the 45th president and Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been mentioned often as a potential presidential contender in 2024.“When … DeSantis went on a top political podcast last week, he panned the Covid lockdowns former President Donald Trump encouraged early in the coronavirus pandemic,” NBC News began a Monday report, adding:
The remarks made for irresistible headlines — the two GOP heavyweights and possible 2024 contenders were feuding. Just days before, Trump had appeared to take a swipe at DeSantis, calling politicians who have refused to reveal their vaccination status “gutless.”
Both camps have denied any real friction, and they blamed “the media” for overhyping tensions, but Trump advisers say they see a hidden hand at play: that of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who is in a pitched battle with Trump over the future of the Republican Party in political races all over the country.
They pointed to the podcast itself because DeSantis made the attention-grabbing remarks on Ruthless, which is co-hosted by McConnell’s longtime adviser Josh Holmes. Shortly after the podcast was posted Friday, Twitter was flooded with the suggestion that DeSantis had knocked Trump by saying one of his biggest regrets was not having been “louder” about the harms of the lockdowns intended to help slow the spread of the virus.
But several people close to the former president believe that it all looked like a setup.
“I like Josh. Josh is great. But he’s a wholly-owned subsidiary of McConnell World. And there’s no way you can tell me that this was all a coincidence,” one Trump adviser told NBC News in comments similar to four others who agreed to speak but only on condition of anonymity.
