Former President Trump on Monday said he "probably" regretted endorsing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a likely contender in the 2024 presidential race, for a gubernatorial primary in 2018.
When asked by reporters aboard the former president's plane en route to Iowa, Trump said if he regretted endorsing DeSantis, "uh, yeah, maybe, probably yeah."
"I like people that are loyal," Trump continued, according to The Daily Caller. "This guy was dead. He was dead as a doornail. Yeah, I might. I might say that. I always got along great with him when he was governor. I did a lot of good things for Florida … I helped him a lot. I helped a lot of other people too."
During the interview, Trump explained that he called the Florida governor "Desanctimonious" due to clashes over reciprocating political gestures.
"Well, I guess it's referring to the fact that when you do something for somebody and they don't reciprocate, I never liked that," Trump said regarding the nickname.
"And he was out of politics. He would have had to go to work for some law office or something. And he came to me, he asked for an endorsement. I said, 'you are so dead right now. No endorsements gonna save you. George Washington won't save.' He said 'I'm telling you if you endorse me, I have a chance' and he was one of many, many congressmen that voted for me on the impeachment hoax. And I figured why not? So I gave him an endorsement because I didn't know the other gentleman who was Adam Putnam, was the Agricultural Commissioner, which in Florida is a big deal."
"When I endorsed him, the race was indeed over, but it was over for him. And then I got him passed the crackhead. You know, you had a guy running who was actually the star of the party. Him and Stacey Abrams, male and female versions. And Ron didn't think he could win. I had two rallies, maybe three. And we had tremendous crowds at the rallies. I said, 'I think you're gonna win.' And he ended up winning. And then a couple of years later, what do you guys do, ask him a question, 'are you running for president?' And he said, 'I have no comment.' I said that's not supposed to happen. Because he was dead as a dog. He was a dead politician. He would have been working perhaps for a law firm or doing something else."
"And the moment I endorsed him," Trump continued, "the whole thing changed immediately. It didn't take two days it took just a short time. I'm a loyal person, so when I use the word Ron DeSanctimonious or Ron DeSanctus, it's just a shorter version. I use them both. I can't use the sanctimonious twice in the same paragraph. So I use them but they actually work quite nicely together. Some people like them, some people don't, but I never did use the word meatball."
The interview followed Trump's trip to Davenport, Iowa, for a political event on Monday night. It follows after DeSantis held his own even in the same city on Friday. DeSantis has not officially declared his candidacy for a GOP presidential run.