Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on Tuesday called for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to drop out of the 2024 presidential race and give his super PAC money to former President Donald Trump.
On "The Charlie Kirk Show," Kirk said DeSantis donating his independent expenditure-only political action committee haul could help unite the party and get him back in good graces with GOP voters.
"Ron DeSantis' super PAC, sitting on $110 million, has just said that they are doing a $12 million ad placement right now to support Ron DeSantis," Kirk said of Never Back Down's new campaign as analyzed by AdImpact data and reported on by CNN.
"I think Ron DeSantis is a great governor," Kirk said. "Why is he trying to ruin his political career right now? Spend that money to help us win in the general [election]. Why are you buying ads to make consultants rich in Iowa?"
Trump has consistently held big polling leads over DeSantis since the summer in the race for the Republican nomination.
According to a FiveThirtyEight average of Republican presidential primary polls on Aug. 29, DeSantis is trailing Trump by about 35 percentage points — 49.9% to 14.6%.
"You might as well just burn that money. Donald Trump will be the nominee absent an unforeseen black swan event," Kirk said. "We need that money as a movement right now, and you're lighting it on fire."
Kirk also said that as DeSantis' campaign reels in millions, Democrats are becoming more confident heading into 2024 and motivating their unyielding legal pursuit of Trump.
Trump last week was fingerprinted, booked, and photographed at the Fulton County Jail on charges of working with co-conspirators to overturn the 2020 election.
On Monday, Trump's legal team and Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith's office agreed to a March 4 trial date for his federal election case after unsuccessfully pushing for it to be postponed until 2026.