He retreated.
Steve Cortes — the former national spokesman for Ron DeSantis’ pro-Never Back Down super PAC — threw his support behind Donald Trump after the former president won the Iowa caucuses this week by nearly 30 points.
Cortes stepped down from his position at Never Back Down in October and refrained from discussing the 2024 election for months, until publishing an op-ed on Wednesday titled “Only Trump Can Save America.”
“I believe that Republican voters are ready for a new post-Trump chapter of the America First movement. I now believe I was wrong,” Cortes wrote in his RealClearPolitics piece.
“Those of us who support Ron DeSantis — or any other Republican candidate — should read the room. Former President Trump easily fended off the field and then crushed the remaining three candidates in Iowa. He’s leading the polls elsewhere. It’s time to come together and unite behind the clear preference of the GOP grassroots, Donald John Trump.”
Steve Cortes next to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Never Back Down
Cortes served as an adviser to the Trump campaign in 2016 and 2020, but endorsed the Florida governor in May of last year, saying DeSantis “represents the best choice to win the presidency in 2024 and to govern as a highly capable patriotic populist leader.”
Cortes had signaled that he was more confident about Trump’s 2024 chances before he left the DeSantis camp.
In July, he casually said Trump was the “runaway front-runner” in the primary and DeSantis faced an “uphill battle.”
Donald Trump arrives for a campaign event at the Atkinson Resort and Country Club in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on January 16, 2024. AFP via Getty Images
DeSantis, 45, finished a distant second behind Trump, 77, in Iowa — garnering 21.2% of the vote compared to the former president’s 51.0%
The Florida governor claimed Monday night that the second-place finish had hurt his “ticket” from Iowa, and plans to campaign in New Hampshire and South Carolina in an effort to top both Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
