DeSantis Responds to Question About ‘GOP Civil War’: ‘People Just Need to Chill Out’

Showing calm and poise, on Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis “shut down reporters asking about a purported “GOP Civil War,” according to Fox News.

DeSantis disappointed those hoping the governor would stoke division in the Republican Party following Trump’s criticism of his leadership and recent announcement to run for President in 2024.

DeSantis has become a rising star in the GOP, and many believe him to be the probable chief contender to Trump for the Party’s nomination for President in 2024.

At a press conference on Wednesday, a reporter prompted DeSantis to comment on what he called a “GOP Civil War.”

DeSantis brushed aside the question, telling reporters to “chill out.”

The governor reminded reporters: “We just finished this election, OK? People just need to chill out a little bit on some of this stuff.”

DeSantis added that he was in Matlacha, Florida, with state Senate President-Designate Kathleen Passidomo and other officials to assist in the coordination of hurricane recovery efforts

DeSantis avoided the topic of a potential presidential run in 2024 and centered much of the discussion on the Dec. 6 Georgia Senate runoff between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

DeSantis won his recent election in a landslide and assisted several Republican congressional candidates in the months leading up to the midterm election.

The governor emphasized to reporters that Republicans must win in Georgia to keep the 50-50 split in the Senate.

Keeping the focus on the Party and the recent election, DeSantis said to reporters:

“I mean, seriously, we just ran an election. We have this Georgia runoff coming, which is very important for Republicans to win that Georgia runoff. I mean, I know around the country Florida was kind of the biggest bright spot, it was not so bright in many other parts of the country. It was a substandard performance given the dynamics that are at play.”

DeSantis added: “But I think what people like me who have been given the opportunity to continue is – OK, let’s do something with that. And the reason why we want historic victory is, at the end of the day, we lead, we delivered, and we had your back when you needed us. That is why we won big.”

DeSantis did win big in Florida. His 19-point re-election win assisted down-ballot Sen. Marco Rubio to victory and helped to flip three congressional seats to expand the GOP majority in the state legislature, according to Fox News.

Trump has observed DeSantis’ rising popularity and, on several occasions, preemptively disparaged the likely contender, downplaying DeSantis’ achievements and referring to the governor as “Ron DeSanctimonious.”

DeSantis has not responded directly to Trump’s swipes, but on Tuesday, the day Trump announced his candidacy, DeSantis advised his detractors to “go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night.”