Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has once again found himself at odds with fellow Republicans, particularly President Donald Trump and state lawmaker Joe Gruters. DeSantis’ recent attempts to undermine Gruters have backfired, with Trump throwing his support behind Gruters for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee. This move has left DeSantis isolated within his own party, further clouding his and his wife Casey’s political ambitions.
DeSantis’ troubles began when he appointed state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia as the state’s Chief Financial Officer, backing him in the GOP primary against Gruters. In a series of appearances around Florida, DeSantis criticized Gruters’ conservative credentials, saying, “If George Washington rose from the dead and came back and tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Will you appoint Joe Gruters CFO?’ My response would be, ‘No.’ I can’t do that without betraying the voters that elected me to lead this state in a conservative direction.”
However, Trump’s endorsement of Gruters for RNC chair caught DeSantis off guard. According to sources close to DeSantis, “The governor did not see this coming at all. He fumbled this 1,000%.” This blunder has significant implications for DeSantis’ future in politics, particularly if he decides to run for president again. With Gruters at the helm of the RNC, DeSantis may face an uphill battle in securing the Republican nomination.
The tension between DeSantis and Gruters is not new. Gruters, a Trump ally, had previously filed to run for Chief Financial Officer of Florida in 2026, a move that DeSantis saw as a challenge to his authority. Despite their temporary truce during the opening of a new migrant detention center in the Everglades, where Trump praised DeSantis as “my friend,” the two Republicans are clearly at odds.
DeSantis’ history of burning bridges within his own party has come back to haunt him. After his failed presidential bid, many Republicans who had supported Trump over DeSantis were rewarded with key roles. These include Susie Wiles, who became Trump’s co-campaign manager and later his chief of staff, and James Blair, who oversaw Trump’s political operation from the White House.
As DeSantis regroups in Florida, he continues to face opposition from within his own party. His public clashes with state lawmakers have done little to improve his relationships with GOP leaders. A veteran Republican fundraiser in Florida noted that DeSantis’ inability to forgive and forget has been a major blind spot, saying, “His blind spot is he doesn’t have a magnanimous bone in his body. Once he has a negative opinion of someone, he cannot pivot even out of political necessity.”
With Gruters now poised to lead the RNC, DeSantis may find himself running in a presidential primary partially controlled by an RNC chairman he has repeatedly spurned. This development could further complicate DeSantis’ already tenuous relationship with the Trump wing of the GOP.