A former top official with GOP presidential contender Ron DeSantis’ flagging campaign has made a stunning turnaround and now appears to support former President Donald Trump.
Steve Cortes, DeSantis’s former spokesman for the Never Back Down Super PAC, “has come full circle and now backs Trump in the 2024 presidential election, expressing that he hopes Trump is the next president of the United States,” One America News reported on Wednesday.
Cortes had previously served as a Trump campaign advisor in both 2016 and 2020. However, following the 2020 campaign, he parted ways with the Trump team, citing what he claimed were “vicious attacks” by the former president on his one-time colleagues.
He then joined the Never Back Down Super PAC. In May 2023, he claimed that the Florida governor was “the best possible option to win the presidency in 2024 and to govern as a highly capable, patriotic populist leader.”
He left his position in October but did not publicly explain his decision, declining for months to discuss it. But on Wednesday, he published an op-ed for RealClearPolitics entitled, “Only Trump Can Save America.”
“I believed that Republican voters were ready for a new post-Trump chapter of the America First movement. I now believe I was wrong,” Cortes’ piece begins, adding that his former boss’s historically strong showing in Iowa makes him more confident than ever in Trump’s potential to win in November.
“Those of us who backed Ron DeSantis — or the other Republican candidates — should read the room. Former President Trump winnowed the field effortlessly and then crushed the remaining three candidates in Iowa. He leads in the polls everywhere else. It is time to coalesce and unite behind the clear preference of the GOP grassroots, Donald John Trump,” he wrote.
“It is time to unify behind former President Trump as he leads the battle against the ruling class and the oligarch’s intent on destroying the American way of life,” Cortes added. “I implore all patriotic populists to join as I pledge to do all I can to work for Trump’s cause, just as I proudly did in 2016 and 2020.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, who gave then-fellow GOP presidential contender Trump all he could handle during the 2016 Republican primary cycle, has also “enthusiastically” come out in support of his one-time rival after a monster win in the Iowa caucuses on Monday.
“I am proud to endorse Donald Trump for President of the United States,” Cruz said on “Hannity.” “I look forward to supporting him enthusiastically.”
“Last night was decisive. It was a dominating victory for Donald Trump. I’ve got to say there is no place like the Iowa caucuses. I know it intimately. The men and women of Iowa, they take their responsibility incredibly seriously,” the Texas Republican — who actually beat Trump in the 2016 Iowa caucuses — began.
“They scrutinize the candidates. It’s an amazing process, and I’m a big believer in letting democracy play out,” he continued. “Well, last night it played out, and I’ve got to say Trump’s victory was across the board. He won 51 percent of the vote. He won 98 of the counties. Congratulations to President Trump on that dominating victory. And at this point, I believe this race is over. So I am proud to endorse Donald Trump for president of the United States.”
“I look forward to supporting him enthusiastically because I think it’s time for the Republican party to unite, for us to come together,” Cruz continued. “We’ve got to beat Joe Biden. We’ve got to beat this disastrous cultural Marxist agenda in the White House. We’ve got to retake the United States Senate. We’ve got to hold the House. We’ve got to come together and win, and with the results last night, the people have spoken. It’s time to move onward to victory in November.”
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