Amid Trump/Reynolds feud, DeSantis says GOP doesn’t have to kiss Trump’s ring

During a Friday taping of “Iowa Press,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came to the defense of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds following another barrage of attacks against her by former president Donald Trump.

Trump has been on the warpath against Reynolds since the summer and ramped up the hostilities after the Iowa governor formally endorsed DeSantis in the Republican presidential primary in which Trump holds a comfortable lead against his fellow Floridian. 

“The way that Donald Trump has handled that, that is not going to work for this party to say that unless you kiss his ring that somehow you’re not good,” DeSantis said on “Iowa Press.” 

“She has done a great job. If you look at all the governors in the country that Republicans can point to, I think she would be one of the top in terms of actually producing strong results for the people that she represents,” he continued.

DeSantis also said members of the same political party should be more supportive of each other.

“As a Republican, I want everybody to do well,” he said. “It’s not just about who endorses me or who doesn’t. There’s people in this race that haven’t endorsed me. I’m not going to go out and trash good Republicans just because they haven’t endorsed me.”

Earlier this week, Trump launched a new campaign ad that trolled Reynolds by showing a compilation of her lauding praise on him during his presidency. 

Trump also addressed Reynolds at a Saturday campaign stop where the mention of her name generated slight boos from the crowd. 

“How do you endorse somebody that’s 40 or 50 points down? There’s got to be something there,” Trump said alluding to Reynolds being eyed as a potential vice president pick by DeSantis. “That was her choice to do this, but I believe in loyalty.”

On the campaign trail in Iowa, DeSantis has entertained the idea of making Reynolds his vice president were he to garner the GOP nomination.