MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Tuesday that Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., was an "even money" front-runner for the Republican nomination and declared he could beat Donald Trump because he is "more competent."
"Listen, I don’t agree with the conventional wisdom about Ron DeSantis. I think, right now, he is even money. I know a lot of people would laugh at that. I think Ron DeSantis right now is even money to be the next Republican nominee for president," Scarborough said during "Morning Joe" on Tuesday.
He added that DeSantis could beat Trump because he's "so much more competent" than the former president.
"He's supposed to come without the baggage that Donald Trump has, as he said in his press conference, he doesn't know a whole lot about paying off porn stars so he can't really answer those types of questions. There could be a great contrast. But here's the deal, if he runs as Trump-like, he loses. If he runs as a main street Republican who is for balanced budgets, strong military and small-c conservatism, I think he wins going away and he's a really formidable opponent for Joe Biden in the fall," he said.
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Scarborough took issue with DeSantis' position on Disney and said that was not going to get him "from here to there."
"Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski said the Florida governor was going to have a hard time given his signing of the six week "heartbeat" bill, limiting abortion in the state.
"That’s the problem. I’m so glad you reminded me of that. You are right. That is going to be tough in the general election for him to get through," Scarborough agreed.
DeSantis and Trump have traded barbs leading up to the governor's official announcement entering the presidential race on May 24.
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DeSantis accused Trump of "running to the left" in attacking his policies and said the former president is a "different guy today."
"I don’t know what happened to Donald Trump," DeSantis said during an interview with Tennessee conservative radio host Matt Murphy. "This is a different guy today than when he was running in 2015 and 2016, and I think the direction that he’s going with his campaign is the wrong direction."
Trump has said that former New York governor Andrew Cuomo did better handling the COVID-19 pandemic than DeSantis, which DeSantis said was "very bizarre."
"But if he thinks Cuomo handled it better, that’s an indication if something like this were to happen again, he would double down and do what he did in March of 2020," DeSantis said on the Ben Shapiro Show, responding to Trump's comments.
"But we all have to sit here today in 2023, look back on March of 2020 and say, 'Faucism was wrong. Faucism was destructive. Faucism has set us on this path with the CARES Act and the Fed printing money, creating inflation, and creating some of the economic problems that we have today," he added.
