Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t use Donald Trump’s name but he ignored the former president’s insults

Without even mentioning former President Donald Trump’s name, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday ignored insults from the former president who is expected to announce a potential presidential run for 2024 at Mar-a-Lago tonight.

At a press conference in Fort Walton Beach, DeSantis himself did not mention his own possible presidential aspirations.

But a reporter asked the governor about Trump:

“Gov. DeSantis, we would like to know what do you think about Trump’s big announcement and some of the less than flattering comments he’s made about you?” a reporter from the crowd asked.

In his lengthy response, DeSantis said that “one of the things I’ve learned in this job is when you’re leading, when you’re getting things, you take incoming fire.” He said Trump’s recent insults are “just noise.”

Meanwhile, several media outlets reported that Trump had criticized DeSantis for not showing gratitude for his endorsement for governor in 2018, as previously reported by the Florida Phoenix.

And last week, Trump went on a rant in a post on social media app Truth Social, where he said that he’d helped DeSantis defeat Democratic challenger Andrew Gillum in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Trump added that “I also fixed his campaign, which had completely fallen apart,” according to Trump’s post.

DeSantis said during the press event:

“That’s just the nature of it. I roll out of bed in the morning, I’ve got corporate media outlets that have a spasm just the fact I’m getting up in the morning. And it’s constantly attacking. And this is just what’s happening.”

“I don’t think any governor got attacked more, particularly by corporate media, than me over my four-year term. And yet I think what you learn is all that is just noise. And really what matters is are you leading, are you getting in front of issues, are you delivering results for people and are you standing up for folks. And if you do that, then none of that stuff matters.”

DeSantis continued: “At the end of the day, I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night. The fact of the matter is it was the greatest Republican victory in the history of the state of Florida. And it wasn’t just the best governor victory. Of course, it was that, but we swept in super majorities in the Florida Legislature.”

Although many Republicans were elected to the Florida Legislature and other positions in Congress, Democrats across the nation won  control of the U.S. Senate. The Republicans in Congress are expected to take control of the U.S. House soon, in a slim margin.

The press event on Tuesday was originally about an education initiative to support Florida’s military families.