Trump, DeSantis tensions shadow this year's CPAC

The simmering tensions between former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) are looming over the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where both men are set to give highly anticipated speeches later this month. With Trump eyeing a political comeback and DeSantis seen as a potential contender for the 2024 GOP presidential bid, the high-profile gathering in Orlando, Fla., offers a prime opportunity to take the temperature of the Republican base and pitch their political brands to the conservative activists and leaders who will play a major role in boosting the party’s next presidential nominee. But the conference also has the potential to highlight — and possibly even deepen — the emerging divide between Trump and DeSantis, stirring both worry and intrigue within the GOP.

“I think he definitely feels threatened by the governor,” one GOP donor, who has given to both Trump and DeSantis, said of the former president. “I can’t necessarily blame him, because there are a lot of people right now who are very interested in what Ron DeSantis has to say, and I think that’s especially true at CPAC.” Trump has griped behind the scenes for months about DeSantis’s rapid political rise, including chatter about a future White House bid. Fueling the complaints is the Florida governor’s apparent refusal to say publicly that he won’t challenge Trump in 2024 should the former president mount another campaign for the White House. The donor said that while Trump has clung to the same talking points — most notably his baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him — DeSantis is “talking about Joe Biden, he’s talking about freedom from COVID lockdowns, he’s looking forward and not backward.”