'Machiavellian move': Ron DeSantis allies said to worry Trump is trying 'to kneecap him'
Donald Trump is reportedly considering Ron DeSantis to replace Pete Hegseth, if Hegseth drops out of the running to lead the Department of Defense, but some DeSantis allies worry that Trump is actually looking to punish the governor.
DeSantis opposed Trump for the 2024 GOP primary, but immediately joined forces with Trump after being beaten. Still, some have said bad blood still exists between the two Republican politicians.
DeSantis' name has popped up in conversations as Hegseth, a Fox News personality, is reportedly having difficulty with securing enough Republican votes to win confirmation.
Politico did some in-depth reporting on exactly what such a switch would mean.
"POLITICO interviewed 16 Republican lobbyists, elected officials and political consultants tied to both Trump and DeSantis about the possibility of the swap, many of whom were granted anonymity to talk freely," according to the report. "Many DeSantis allies see the Defense secretary job as being attractive to DeSantis, giving him the keys to run the world’s most powerful bureaucracy — and just as important, will keep him in the spotlight ahead of any potential future presidential run."
Some close to DeSantis call the move a "win-win" scenario, but others warn of pitfalls.
The report says, "But some DeSantis allies also think that Trump could just be floating DeSantis’ name to see how senators back in Washington react."
"Such a move could be orchestrated to see whether the president-elect needs to choose a new nominee out of concern that Hegseth won’t get confirmed," it states.
Politico reports that one ally "who often talks to DeSantis’ inner circle" said DeSantis and his team also "had to decide whether to trust Trump knowing that he could join the administration and then get thrown out, perhaps even in a short amount of time."
"The person described the scenario as DeSantis taking a risk — that he might on the one hand gain political longevity, but also that it wasn’t guaranteed given the possibility of angering Trump the way some Cabinet members did during the first term," the outlet reported on Thursday.
Another individual close to Trump reportedly "said they had a hard time picturing DeSantis as a subordinate and said the governor should be skeptical about hopping aboard."
“It could all be a Machiavellian move to kneecap him and leave him with nothing,” the person said, according to the new reporting.
