DeSantis accuses Trump of ‘massive gaslighting’ during Fox News town hall

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis went after his GOP primary rival former President Trump on Thursday for his Iowa town hall the night before, claiming the former president engaged in “massive gaslighting.”

As he has the previous four, Trump chose to skip the fifth GOP primary debate, also held in Iowa the same night, and opted instead for a town hall where he faced questions from a mostly friendly crowd.

“I don’t think that there was very many critical questions,” DeSantis said in an MSNBC interview. 

He called out Trump, claiming the former president lied about COVID-19 policy.

“He’s not done any debates yet. I think it’s because he knows he can get away with that type of gaslighting at that venue,” DeSantis said. “He knows he wouldn’t be able to get away with that if we were just on the debate stage.”

The Florida governor hit Trump over the pandemic response, claiming that Trump bragged about shutting down the economy and saving lives but has now changed his tune.

“He was bragging in 2020 that he shut down the greatest economy in the world. He used to say he saved millions of lives to do that,” DeSantis said. “Now he knows Republican voters think that was a mistake, but he cannot admit that he made a mistake.” 

“I think as a leader, you know, if something doesn’t work, you course correct,” he continued. “And voters appreciate that. It’s refreshing when you acknowledge that you got something wrong. Donald Trump just can’t do that.”

In pitching himself to be the best GOP candidate for 2024, DeSantis also raised questions about Trump’s health and ability to lead.

“If you go back to October 2020, that first Trump-Biden debate when Donald Trump was the incumbent president, Biden beat him in that debate I think pretty soundly,” DeSantis said. “So now we’re in a situation where we’re three, four years down the road. I mean, clearly Donald Trump is not the same Trump from 2016. When he gets off the teleprompter, there’s a lot of mistakes. A lot of stream of consciousness stuff.”

DeSantis has struggled in polls behind Trump, failing to seize on his early high expectations. He’s focused most of his campaign resources on Iowa, where the caucus is just days away. Despite that, DeSantis is polling third in Iowa behind Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Trump has about 54 percent support to Haley’s 18 percent and DeSantis’s 17 percent, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ average of polls.

DeSantis brushed off those numbers, however, claiming that caucus day will paint a brighter picture for his campaign.

“The good news is, when people actually get to go in there and vote, then that brings clarity, and then we’re going to be able to be off to the races from there,” he said. “So we’re excited about Monday night, we’ve done it the right way.”