Trump rails on DeSantis over Hurricane Maria flap

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President Donald Trump is privately lashing out at one of his top allies, Ron DeSantis, angrily accusing the Florida Republican gubernatorial nominee of publicly betraying him.

The president has told close associates in recent days that he views DeSantis — who won his Aug. 28 GOP primary thanks to Trump’s strong support — as profoundly disloyal for distancing himself from the president’s assertion that the Hurricane Maria death toll was inflated by Democrats for political purposes.

“Ron DeSantis is committed to standing with the Puerto Rican community, especially after such a tragic loss of life. He doesn’t believe any loss of life has been inflated,” the DeSantis campaign said last week after Trump tweeted that "3000 people did not die” in Puerto Rico.

Trump’s comments unnerved Republicans across Florida, which is home to a burgeoning Puerto Rican population, leading DeSantis and other Republicans — including Senate hopeful Rick Scott — to publicly break with the president’s remark.

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One person close to the president described the situation as a “divorce.” At the moment, Trump has no plans to travel to Florida to campaign for DeSantis in the November general election, according to two GOP officials familiar with the president’s schedule.

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People close to DeSantis say the campaign was fully aware that by releasing last week’s statement they risked antagonizing the president.

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“I would have wanted to take some of the air out of the statement — and it was mild — but in a state with the I-4 Corridor, where Puerto Ricans are moving to every day, DeSantis had no choice,” said Caputo. “He couldn’t deflate the statement about 3,000 Puerto Ricans dying in the storm and their relatives live in the I-4 Corridor and they vote.”

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