No, George Soros Didn’t Endorse DeSantis for the GOP Presidential Primary

By Hudson Crozier

What happened: Democrat megadonor George Soros gave a speech in which he predicted that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would likely win the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. He argued that such a victory would fracture the Republican Party so deeply that Democrats would ultimately win in 2024.

What Soros said about the primary: "My hope for 2024 is that Trump and Governor DeSantis of Florida will slug it out for the Republican nomination. Trump has turned into a pitiful figure, continually bemoaning his loss in 2020. Big Republican donors are abandoning him in droves. DeSantis is shrewd, ruthless, and ambitious. He is likely to be the Republican candidate.”

On the 2024 election: “This could induce Trump, whose narcissism has turned into a disease, to run as a third-party candidate. That would lead to a Democratic landslide and force the Republican Party to reform itself.”

Not an endorsement: Soros has long sought to curb DeSantis’s influence over Florida by funding local media and woke prosecutors. DeSantis has portrayed Soros negatively since his 2018 campaign and, as governor, he has responded to Soros’s efforts with vocal criticism and action. There is no evidence that Soros will support any Republican for president in 2024.