Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), one of the few House members to endorse Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential bid, joked that DeSantis should get indicted in order to boost his poll numbers among GOP voters.
“I’ve said we gotta figure out, we got to find some judge in Florida that’ll indict DeSantis quick, to close this indictment gap. It’s a truism that anytime someone is being persecuted, their camp rallies to their defense,” Massie said in an interview last week that was published Monday in The Miami Herald.
Massie said he understands why Republican voters are flocking to former President Trump’s defense in light of the indictments.
“It’s very difficult,” Massie said, when asked how DeSantis and other GOP presidential candidates should proceed as sympathy mounts for Trump as he faces criminal charges.
“I feel sympathy for Trump. And I understand why people are gravitating towards him in this time. It’s a referendum on the swamp versus Trump, and it’s seen as, if you don’t support Trump in this moment, some of the voters see it as being swampy. If you’re not with him, you must be with the other guys. And it makes it tough,” Massie continued.
Massie said he thinks DeSantis has taken the right approach in responding to Trump’s indictment by showing sympathy for the former president.
“It feels weird to say this, but I’m just going to say it. I think Ron DeSantis has to weather out these indictments. I think Ron’s taken the right path, which is to be sympathetic to the former president’s plight,” Massie said.
DeSantis, once a serious challenger to Trump’s primary campaign, has fallen in the polls since his launch earlier this year. The latest Morning Consult polling numbers showed 16 percent of GOP voters favor DeSantis, while Trump pulls ahead with 59 percent of GOP voters’ support.
A New York Times/Siena College poll released Monday reflected similar numbers, with DeSantis at 17 percent and Trump at 56 percent.