War of words intensifies between Trump, DeSantis as they hit the trail

The long-expected duel between Republican presidential nomination hopefuls Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis has gone into overdrivea little more than a week after the latter announced his candidature. The former president during a campaign pitstop in Iowa called out DeSantis for not taking questions from the public.

Addressing 200-odd members of a conservative club, Trump said they could ask him questions - an offer that his rival DeSantis did not provide to the audience.

“A lot of politicians don’t take questions. They give a speech,” said Trump amid a sea of supporters wearing the red “Make America Great Again” hats.

Trump's attacks continued as he pushed back against DeSantis’ argument that it will take two terms in the White House to implement an agenda.

“When he says eight years, every time I hear it I wince, because I say if it takes eight years to turn this around, then you don’t want him, you don’t want him as your president,” said Trump

“It’ll take me six months to have it totally the way it was, we’ll have it fast.”

DeSantis quizzed about no Q&As

Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, DeSantis, when confrontedbya reporter about why he didn't engage the audience in a Q&A session, gave a frustrated answer.

“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 whatever they want to talk to me about.”

However, a similar sentiment was not echoed by the attendees who said they were disappointed by DeSantis for not taking questions.

“This is New Hampshire. The reality here is the vast majority of political people in New Hampshire, we do our due diligence. We want to know where these people stand. And a lot of that is hearing from them and then asking them questions," Alan Glassman, treasurer of the state GOP was quoted as saying by the AP.

“I’m just hoping that next time the governor does show up here, he’ll actually be doing some more interaction with the people,” he added.

However, DeSantis managed to return some of the favour to Trump by asking what the former president had done in his previous stint in the White House.

"Anyone who says they can slay the deep state in six months should be asked, ‘Why didn’t you do that when you had four years?’”

DeSantis launched his 2024 presidential campaign last week, vowing to lead Americans into a new era of success and fight for their freedoms. Within the GOP, despite Trump's larger-than-life image, DeSantis remains the best hope for anti-Trump forces.

Trump has previously attacked the Florida governor by calling him 'meatball Ron', 'Ron DeSanctimonious' whilst implying that DeSantis may be hit with sexual assault allegations from both men and women.

(With inputs from agencies)

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