Trump, DeSantis bash each other as 2024 campaign swing begins

Former US president Donald Trump has kept up a steady drumbeat of criticism of his chief rival Ron DeSantis, jumping immediately on remarks by the Florida governor on the campaign trail to try to highlight his own strength as the leading GOP presidential candidate.

Trump, appearing in Iowa on Thursday as DeSantis campaigned in New Hampshire, made a point of telling about 200 members of a conservative club gathered at a Des Moines-area restaurant that they could ask him questions — an offer that came not long after DeSantis snapped at an Associated Press reporter who asked him why he didn’t take questions from voters at his events.

"A lot of politicians don't take questions. They give a speech," Trump said to the audience, many of whom wore red Make America Great Again hats espousing his political movement.

Trump also sought to capitalise off a remark by DeSantis that it felt like it would take two terms in the White House to really roll back the actions of the Biden administration — a veiled reference to Trump, who can only serve one more term.

"Who the hell wants to wait eight years?" Trump said, claiming he could unwind President Joe Biden's policies within six months.

DeSantis, asked about the former president's comment while leaving a voter event in Rochester, noted that Trump had already had a chance to fix the nation's problems in his first term in office.

"Why didn't he do it in his first four years?"

Their campaign appearances on Thursday displayed an early tableau of the Republican primary that’s just getting under way: Trump hammering DeSantis and promising to use a return to the White House to quickly unwind his successor's work, while the governor limits his replies and direct critiques, pitching instead to nationalise his aggressive governing style.

DeSantis focused on Biden

While posing for pictures and shaking hands with voters afterward, DeSantis was asked by the AP reporter why he wasn't taking questions from voters. “People are coming up to me, talking to me, what are you talking about? Are you blind?” he said.

"Are you blind? People are coming up to me, talking to me about whatever they want to talk to me about."

In Laconia, DeSantis turned his focus to Biden, criticising him for championing a move to demote the early-voting state from its prominent role picking presidential candidates.

He said the president was wrong to back a Democratic National Committee move to have New Hampshire hold its Democratic primary the same day as Nevada as part of a major shake-up meant to empower Black and other minority voters critical to the party's base of support.

The Republican Party's calendar is decided separately, but the Democrats' changes have irked members of both parties in New Hampshire.

"I'm glad Republicans are holding the line and committed to New Hampshire," DeSantis said.

Matt Johnson, a 55-year-old consultant from Windham, New Hampshire, who attended the Salem event, said Trump and DeSantis present voters with a real choice, but he liked that DeSantis "has proven he actually can get stuff done in government."

"[Trump] talked a lot, and he got some stuff done, but he didn't really get a lot of things done that he probably should have," Johnson said.

Other runners

Trump, after appearing on Wednesday night at a GOP legislative dinner in Des Moines, appeared on Thursday morning at one of the twice-monthly breakfasts of a conservative club at a restaurant in Urbandale.

The former president also had lunch with faith leaders and later addressed several hundred activists and supporters.

Thursday afternoon, he was set to participate in a town hall with Sean Hannity being taped in the Des Moines suburb of Clive. It will air at 9 pm Thursday on Fox News.

As Trump and DeSantis make their pitch to GOP voters, the Republican presidential field is shaping up to become even more crowded.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie is expected to launch a Republican presidential campaign June 6 in New Hampshire.

The next day, both Mike Pence, Trump's former vice president, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum are expected to announce campaigns of their own.