Former President Donald Trump is renowned for demanding loyalty from subordinates and supporters, and then not being quite so charitable in return.
Last week, the Republican Party of Florida ensured that Trump will continue to get his way along these lines.
The state GOP voted on Friday to not require candidates running in Florida’s 2024 presidential primary to support the Republican nominee, the Associated Press reported.
The move overturned a rule implemented just four months ago and ensured that Trump won’t have to publicly pledge an oath of support in order to battle Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the March election.
Related: Trump Team Tries To Thwart Florida Republican’s Loyalty Pledge Ahead Of Primary
“The oath requirement would have forced primary candidates to back the eventual nominee in order to get placed on the ballot. Had Trump been excluded from the primary ballot, he might not have been able to run on the Republican line in the November general election,” the AP noted.
“The decision is seen as a victory for Trump, who has refused to take a similar pledge required for candidates to participate in national GOP debates.”
The outlet noted that state Sen. Joe Gruters, a former party chairman and staunch Trump supporter, advocated that the party overturn its new rule.
“By putting this in place, whether it was intentional or not, the party looks like it was favoring a certain candidate,” Gruters said. “This has turned into a proxy battle — the Trump world versus the DeSantis world.”
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“When people say, ‘Well, Trump doesn’t want to sign the loyalty oath,’ it’s not about that. It’s about the party putting up artificial roadblocks that didn’t exist four months ago,” Gruters said.
Trump continues to far outpace DeSantis and the rest of the field in public opinion polls.
But DeSantis has noted that Trump’s legal troubles, which has him facing four different indictments spanning 91 criminal counts in state and federal courts, may render all of that irrelevant.
“I think the chance of getting elected after being convicted of a felony is as close to zero as you can get,” he said in an interview last week.
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