The road to win the 2024 presidential race goes through former President Donald Trump. Every candidate in the race must defeat him to gain the White House.

The first round in this protracted campaign involves GOP challengers fighting for the smaller pool of party voters not voting for Trump. There is not much room for improvement in a crowded field with Trump holding near two-thirds of Republican voter support heading into the 2024 primary season.

One of the most promising candidates challenging Trump is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. He has made his mark in the campaign but has faced pitfalls along the way. Other challengers have kept him from gaining on Trump and the former president keeps gaining favor among voters.

DeSantis recently openly discussed how Trump’s indictments by various courts have recharged the frontrunner’s position and hurt the governor’s aspirations.

From the Daily Caller:
“I would say, if I would have one thing changed, I wish Trump hadn’t been indicted on any of this stuff,” DeSantis said. “But I also think it distorted the primary, and I think those have been the main issues that have happened.”

DeSantis criticized the legal cases against Trump and described the cases as “distorting justice.” Trump maintains a significant lead over GOP challengers despite four separate indictments on a total of 91 charges after he announced he was running for president again.

The governor said the charges “sucked out a lot of oxygen” from the primary. He also believes Democrats and their sympathetic media allies may have an extended plan to attack Trump using the legal charges if he gains the GOP nomination.

“I think the Democrats have a plan on this, I think the media has a plan on this and I think if it gets to the point six months from now where Trump is the presumptive nominee, and he’s having to go through all this, they have a plan for how they’re gonna ride this out,” DeSantis said.

Trump faces charges in Manhattan for allegedly falsifying business records over hush money; federal charges related to allegedly illegally storying classified documents and election overthrow conspiracies; and in Georgia for allegedly attempting to overturn election results.

Despite all the charges Trump leads in GOP primary polls with 62% support while DeSantis is fighting for second place with about 12% support.

Key Takeaways:

• DeSantis said the many legal charges against Trump have impacted his campaign.
• The Florida governor said Democrats and the media have a plan to attack Trump.
• Despite legal and media attacks Trump still holds a commanding primary poll lead.

Source: Daily Caller