‘Biden and Me’: DeSantis Privately Tells Donors Trump Can’t Win

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“You have basically three people at this point that are credible in this whole thing,” Mr. DeSantis told donors on the call, organized by the super PAC supporting him, Never Back Down. “Biden, Trump and me. And I think of those three, two have a chance to get elected president — Biden and me, based on all the data in the swing states, which is not great for the former president and probably insurmountable because people aren’t going to change their view of him.”

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He said the attitude of Republican voters amounted to, “We’ve got to win this time.” And while he praised Mr. Trump’s policies, he said that Mr. Biden had undone many of them.

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“The corporate media wants Trump to be the nominee,” Mr. DeSantis said, adding that journalists, other candidates and “two presidents” had targeted him with criticism.

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And Mr. DeSantis described his efforts to help the party, noting that Mr. Trump and other Republicans had repeatedly attacked him. “There are some that kind of raise money just for themselves,” he said, an unmistakable jab at Mr. Trump, who was criticized during the midterm elections for sitting on a large pile of cash in his political action committee and not doing enough to help others.

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He did not take questions and was the only person who spoke on the call. But he suggested that his ability to respond to what he described as months of attacks would soon change, a veiled reference to becoming a candidate.

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At another point, Mr. DeSantis was blunt, saying, “I think the voters want to move on from Biden,” adding, “They just want a vehicle they can get behind” but “there’s just too many voters that don’t view Trump as that vehicle.”

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