• Ex-President Donald Trump has taken aim at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
• Tensions between the two leading Republicans have reached a boiling point
• Mr. Trump has disparaged his previous political appointee, calling him a “mediocre” governor who lacks “loyalty.”

Mr. DeSantis, 44, was overwhelmingly re-elected in Tuesday’s midterm elections, solidifying his position as the Republican party’s most promising young leader. Many people anticipate that he will seek the party’s candidacy for president in 2024. On the other hand, Mr. Trump, at age 76, is shaping up to be a formidable obstacle.

Mr. DeSantis, or any other Republican who dares to challenge him, would have a strong opponent in the form of the former president, who has a vast campaign war chest and is highly popular with the party’s base. Mr. Trump, in a long statement released on Thursday night, referred to the governor of Florida as a “political lightweight” who was “in bad shape” when he approached him for help during his 2017 campaign.

“Ron had low approval, bad polls, and no money, but he said that if I would Endorse [sic] him, he could win,” Mr Trump said. “I also fixed his campaign, which had completely fallen apart.”

He went on to complain that Mr DeSantis – whom he is nicknaming “Ron DeSanctimonious” – was “playing games” by refusing to rule out a presidential bid.

“Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s really not the right answer,” Mr. Trump continued.

As early as next week, the former president is widely anticipated to reveal his own strategy for a return to the White House.

While Mr. DeSantis is basking in the glory of his re-election triumph, the Republicans’ dismal showing in the midterm elections has been pinned squarely on the shoulders of President Trump.

It was a nail-biter in the battle for the House and Senate. It’s still not obvious which party will control both houses of Congress two days after Americans went to the polls.

While many of Mr. Trump’s high-profile nominees for government faltered or were defeated outright in 2020, voters overwhelmingly rejected candidates who embraced his false charges of election fraud.

Even the ex-closest president’s associates have urged him to rethink making the huge revelation he’s been hinting at for November 15.

“Republicans have followed Donald Trump off the side of a cliff,” one former Trump adviser, David Urban, told the New York Times.

“I think he needs to put it [his campaign announcement] on pause,” Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s former press secretary, told Fox News.