If you can’t appeal to your own delegation…

Created
Thu, 20/04/2023 - 06:09
Updated
Thu, 20/04/2023 - 06:09
DeSantis can’t seem to get Florida officials to endorse him He’s an ass. That’s all there is to it: It was supposed to be RON DeSANTIS’ big day on Capitol Hill. Yet DONALD TRUMP managed to overshadow him from almost 1,000 miles away. In the 24 hours leading up to the Florida governor’s much-anticipated meeting with GOP lawmakers, two members from his own state — Reps. JOHN RUTHERFORD and GREG STEUBE — endorsed Trump. A third Floridian — Rep. BRIAN MAST, who was once considered close with DeSantis — told CNN’s Mel Zanona that he’ll soon follow suit. And a few hours later, in a stone-cold act of political brutality, Rep. LANCE GOODEN (R-Texas) walked out of the DeSantis meeting and declared his support for Trump. “It’s a killer!” said one positively giddy Trump confidant, who was on the phone with Playbook when news of Gooden’s surprise endorsement broke. To be fair, DeSantis notched a couple small victories yesterday: Freshman Rep. LAUREL LEE, his former secretary of state, endorsed him, and his Capitol Hill event — where he spoke about his state’s policy agenda, decried the “radical” Biden administration, and offered to help expand the House majority, without once mentioning Trump — drew at least three dozen lawmakers. But at the end of the day, Trump had picked up more endorsements from Florida than DeSantis could muster with his boots on the ground in Washington. Not only did lawmakers leave the DeSantis event without delivering their backing, our colleagues Sarah Ferris, Ally Mutnick and Burgess Everett report, but several “tried to downplay their attendance, saying they went because the governor was a former…