"DeSantis will beat Trump for GOP nomination" George Soros says

Liberal billionaire influencer George Soros today predicted that Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will beat former President Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP primaries, prompting the former president to run as a third-party candidate.

“This could induce Trump, whose narcissism has turned into a disease, to run as a third-party candidate. This would lead to a Democratic landslide and force the Republican Party to reform itself,” Soros said at the 2023 Munich Security Conference.
In a wide-ranging speech, Soros ripped Trump’s presidency and complemented elements of DeSantis’s style.

“DeSantis is shrewd, ruthless, and ambitious,” said Soros, adding, “He is likely to be the Republican candidate.”

Trump, on the other hand, “has turned into a pitiful figure continually bemoaning his loss in 2020. Big Republican donors are abandoning him in droves,” he said.

Soros, an international financier and philanthropist, typically dumps millions of dollars into political races and committees. He heads a global liberal network of groups pushing climate change, financial reform, and changes to the criminal system.

He recently teamed with Charles Koch and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund to revive the Iran nuclear deal, according to reports.

His predictions for the Republicans aren’t rare. Even in mainstream Republican circles, there has been talk that if Trump loses the nomination he would run as a third party. Typically, third-party candidates take only votes from the other candidate in the race whose politics is close to theirs, meaning a Trump candidacy would take votes from the Republican nominee.

Most national polls show Trump beating all GOP challengers by large margins. However, in early voting states, notably Iowa and New Hampshire, it’s DeSantis who leads many.

In his speech, Soros made clear that he does not like Trump or what he stood for and believes that the former president was a threat to democracy.

“Trump is a deeply flawed character, a confidence trickster whose narcissism grew into a disease. He feels no commitment to democracy; democracy merely provides him with a stage on which to perform. As president, he was more interested in hobnobbing with dictators than in promoting democratic principles,” said Soros.

“Trump’s role model was Putin, who amassed a fortune while asserting total control over his country.”

He twisted many of Trump’s successful policies into liberal talking points despite evidence that many, including tax cuts, the appointment of conservative judges, and election reform initiatives, have worked.

“Trump attracted a lot of non-educated white followers, but his biggest backers were the mega-rich — and he certainly delivered for them. First, he cut their taxes. Second, he nominated to the Supreme Court ideologues who embraced an extreme version of the Republican agenda. Third, he brought the Republican Party under his control by threatening those who didn’t swear loyalty to him with a challenge in the primaries," Soros said.

“Lastly, he encouraged Republican-controlled states to introduce outrageous measures of voter suppression to ensure that his party would remain in power indefinitely. With that program, he was almost reelected in 2020,” he added.