In a Tuesday night interview, Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis reportedly blasted former President Donald Trump, stating that he should attend this week’s GOP primary debate to explain his record in office.
The comments were made by DeSantis in an interview with Laura Ingraham of Fox News prior to the debate on Wednesday in Simi Valley, California.
Trump won’t be in the debate, therefore DeSantis, who is now polling second nationally, will likely dominate the debate stage.
“I think it’s interesting that he is not willing to stand on that stage. I think he owes it to all the voters to show up, defend his record, and articulate what he would do going forward and what he would might do differently. And he’s not willing to do that. I think the voters have a right to hear from all the candidates.” DeSantis said.
“I mean, I think we can talk about a lot of the things — he’s running in 2024 on a lot of the same promises he ran on in 2016 and didn’t deliver on. He said he was going to drain the swamp. They didn’t drain the swamp at all. He still defends hiring Christopher Wray, he didn’t fire Wray. He didn’t fire Fauci. He said Mexico was gonna pay for the border wall. That didn’t happen.” he continued.
“They started the wall, but we’ve got a lot more to be able to do to finish the wall. He said he was going to eliminate the national debt. They added almost a trillion dollars to the debt in four years, and then remember, he promised to appoint a special counsel for Hillary Clinton, then after the election two weeks later, he’s like, ‘Oh, no, forget about it. That’s what you say before the election, it’s not what you say after.’ So now, he’s saying he’s going to do one for Biden, but he had promised to do that for you in 2016. So I think it’s about, you got to deliver on these things.” he concluded.
Trump stated in August that he will not participate in any of the Republican debates, citing the voters’ familiarity with his record and his significant lead in the national polls.
[READ MORE: DeSantis Claims That ‘Florida Already Won the Debate’ Regarding Upcoming Debate Against Newsom]
