Trump mocks DeSantis on his home turf, dismissing the Florida governor's standing in the GOP presidential primary: 'It was never that close'

• Trump needled DeSantis over his continued 2024 polling dominance at the Turning Point Conference.
• DeSantis was absent from the event in his home state, and Trump used the opportunity to attack him.
• Trump said DeSantis' candidacy was divisive and poked at him over insurers dropping plans in Florida.

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday lit into Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida at a high-profile conservative conference, needling his top Republican presidential primary rival over his absence at the Sunshine State event while also asserting his dominance in the GOP race for the White House.

While speaking at the Turning Point Action Conference in West Palm Beach, Trump boasted of his substantial leads in most national and state polls and suggested that DeSantis' candidacy was preventing the GOP from unifying around him as the party looks to unseat President Joe Biden next year.

"We are totally dominating DeSanctus right here in the state of Florida," Trump said, mispronouncing the governor's last name. "DeSanctimonious and his establishment handlers are wasting such precious time and resources to divide our party. They're dividing the party, although he's dropping so quickly he's probably not going to be in second place much longer."

Trump then criticized DeSantis over the decision of some major insurers to stop offering some policies in Florida over the increased risk of natural disasters, telling the governor to return to the state and tackle the issue.

"We want him to get home and take care of insurance because you have the highest insurance in the nation," the former president said.

Trump then pivoted back to touting his poll numbers.

"All the money that he's using now is stopped because all of the people that were supporting him ... they're saying, hey, wait a minute, you're down by 57 points," Trump said. "You know, they may like him or they may not, but they don't want somebody that's down 57 points. They're not stupid people."

"In fact, all of a sudden, I'm getting calls from people. They say, 'You know, sir, I just called to say hello.' I said 'I thought you were a DeSantis follower,'" Trump remarked, before declaring that the GOP primary so far has not been competitive.

"It was never that close, by the way," the former president said.

"I don't know why he's not here. He should be here representing himself," he added.

DeSantis campaign press secretary Bryan Griffin in a Saturday statement brushed aside Trump's comments.

"Governor DeSantis spent the day with Iowans and spoke to a packed house at the Tennessee G.O.P. Statesman Dinner later that night," he said. "This was a day after he delivered the strongest interview at the Family Leadership Summit, which Donald Trump notably skipped. Ron DeSantis is campaigning to win."

In the FiveThirtyEight average of national Republican presidential polls, Trump sits at 49.7%, well ahead of the second- and third-place contenders — DeSantis (averaging 21% support) and former Vice President Mike Pence (averaging 7.4% of GOP primary support).

Other GOP contenders are averaging support below 5%: entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (4.6%), former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina (4.2%), Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina (3.2%), former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey (2.9%), and former Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas (1%).