Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has for the first time criticized former President Donald Trump for his refusal to concede power during his 2020 election overturn effort – in a generalized comment referencing events more than 200 years ago.
DeSantis, who has condemned rioters inside the Capitol where he once served but has said little about Trump’s push to have courts and allies toss out the results, made the remark in an interview with Piers Morgan, where he also blasted Trump administration chaos.
He did so by invoking the nation’s most revered founder, George Washington, who Trump himself has frequently lionized (while once once bragging he could probably beat the Virginian in an election).
‘So, somebody who really set the standard is George Washington because he always put the Republic over his own personal interest. When we won the American Revolution, Washington surrendered his sword,’ DeSantis said.
Then, DeSantis brought up King George III’s possibly apocryphal remarks praising Washington for relinquishing power – drawing a pointed contrast with Trump.
‘George III said he’s the greatest man in the world if he gives up power,’ said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in an interview where he stressed character, urged people to emulate the founders, and blasted ‘drama’ in the Trump White House
‘George III said he’s the greatest man in the world if he gives up power. I think the person is more about how you handle your public duties and the kind of character you bring to that endeavor,’ he said.
Morgan had asked him if personal conduct in a leader matters.
‘You really want to look to people like our Founding Fathers, like what type of character, it’s not saying that you don’t ever make a mistake in your personal life, but I think what type of character are you bringing?’ DeSantis said before referencing Washington and the King.
The comments were contained deep inside in an interview where DeSantis contrasted his own leadership style with ‘daily drama’ of the Trump White House while poking at Trump’s character. He even doubled down on a Monday comment that he himself didn’t know ‘what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair.’
That was a reference to the $130,000 Stormy Daniels ‘hush’ agreement that could bring a Trump indictment in Manhattan as soon as this week. Trump denies having a sexual affair with her.
The historical event DeSantis, a former Navy lawyer, was referencing was Washington’s decision to resign his military commission in 1783 after after leading the Revolutionary War effort for eight years.
DeSantis offered blistering criticism of Trump in the interview, where he said ‘when we won the American Revolution, Washington surrendered his sword’
Trump spoke at a ‘stop the steal’ rally before the Capitol riot on January 6. He told the Washington Post he could probably beat George Washington in an election
A huge oil painting of Washington resigning his commission is located in the Capitol Rotunda along with other historical artworks
The gesture, carried out before the Continental Congress gathered in the Maryland state capital in Annapolis, is heralded by historians as one of the nation’s greatest acts of statesmanship in the nation’s history.
It is depicted in a huge oil painting inside the Capitol Rotunda, where rioters rampaged on January 6 hours after Trump urged them to ‘fight like hell’ and pressed then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to accept votes certified by states.
Another of Washington’s acts that still reverberates was his decision not to seek a third term, setting up a tradition that held for decades and is now enshrined in the Constitution.
Democratic opponent Charlie Crist tried to make an issue of DeSantis’ refusal to explicitly condemn Trump’s election overturn effort during the 2022 governor’s race, where DeSantis prevailed by a wide margin, accusing him of ‘silence’ about January 6.
King George III may have said if Washington gave up power ‘he would be the greatest man in the world’
DeSantis issued a statement on Jan. 6, 2021 saying ‘violence or rioting of any kind is unacceptable, and the perpetrators must face the full weight of the law.’
He also called it ‘totally unacceptable and those folks need to be held accountable,’ adding the following day that, ”It doesn’t matter what banner you’re flying under — the violence is wrong, the rioting and disorder is wrong.’
On the one-year anniversary of January 6, he compared it to Christmas for the ‘D.C.-New York media,’ who he said were allowed to put forward negative narratives.
‘They are going to take this and milk this for anything they could to try to be able to smear anyone who ever supported Donald Trump,’ DeSantis said.
By breaking with Trump with the subtle historical analogy, DeSantis joins former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in calling out what could be a vulnerability as the presidential race dire. Haley made direct appeals to Republicans ‘tired of losing.’
Taking on Trump on his role in 2020 carries risks in the primary, with polls showing a majority of Republicans believe Trump’s claims of election fraud. He was already in Trump’s crosshairs with the ‘porn star’ comments.
Trump advisor Jason Miller hit back with a furious response at DeSantis Tuesday night. ‘Ron DeSantis has finally shown his true colors. An establishment Never Trumper who despises the MAGA base and was faking it the entire time,’ he tweeted.
One area where DeSantis may have gone beyond the historical record is his King George quotation, which continues to get traction on official sites.
The quote comes from American artist Benjamin West, who spent time in the King’s court and passed on what he heard to another artist. It only got recorded years after the the King allegedly said it, as historian and early American specialist Elizabeth Norvara wrote on a Library of Congress blog. ‘The King said if He did He would be the greatest man in the world,’ artist Joseph Farrington wrote in his diary, a second-hand account of what he told West.
In another version, West told Rufus King, Washington’s ambassador to Great Britain, after Washington had decided not to seek a third term was an act that ‘placed him in a light the most distinguished of any man living, and that he thought him the greatest character of the age.’
But that happened all the way in 1797, after Washington had left office, not after he resigned his military command.
In any event, the King wasn’t so quick to relinquish power himself. He kept his crown until the end of his life, even after his son stepped in as regent amid his mental illness.
