In the last few weeks, former President Donald Trump has been hitting Ron DeSantis where it hurts, gaining endorsements from DeSantis’ own Florida congressional delegation and topping Republican primary polls. Yet DeSantis on Saturday struck back at the main rival in his undeclared campaign for the 2024 nomination, poaching former Nevada Attorney General and Trump loyalist Adam Laxalt as chairman for his Never Back Down super PAC, according to the Associated Press. Laxalt was a major booster of Trump’s election fraud claims in 2020, before going on to lose in a 2022 Senate campaign against Democrat Catherine Cortez-Masto. Yet despite his Trumpian stance, Laxalt’s alliance with DeSantis does seem like a natural choice—the two were roommates in naval officer training and both served in Iraq.
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