In multiple 2024 election polls, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis leads or nearly leads former President Trump. That's in spite of DeSantis not having even announced his candidacy in the upcoming White House election; whereas Trump declared his candidacy months ago.

At the same time, key factions of the conservative movement and GOP are souring on Trump. Club For Growth, a right-wing economic group, declined to invite Trump to a donor event. However, DeSantis and other likely GOP contenders in 2024 received invitations.

Big-time Republican donors, including the Koch network, have also declined to extend their support to the former president.

As this happens, Trump is resorting to increasingly bizarre and strange attacks against DeSantis. Despite these attacks getting pushback from Republicans, the former president just can't help himself.

Earlier today, however, the Florida governor proved that he remained unphased by Trump's behavior targeted at him.

DeSantis swats Trump away

Yesterday, via Truth Social, Trump made odd posts that appeared to accuse DeSantis of being a sexual predator during his time as a high school teacher in 2001.

The former president also tried to retcon his endorsement of DeSantis in 2018 when the latter first campaigned for the Florida governor's mansion.

Apparently, this was due to DeSantis voting against the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act when he served in the House of Representatives.

Today, during a press conference, DeSantis stressed that delivering for Floridians and fighting back against the Biden administration is where his focus lies. Furthermore, the Florida governor reiterated that he doesn't use his time to denigrate fellow Republicans.

Clearly, the same cannot be said of Trump.

It gets worse for Trump

DeSantis' rising stock in the political world continues to occur as Trump's own stock declines. Another key conservative group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), stressed the GOP has shown a track record of nominating what they called "bad candidates" in recent elections.

Likewise, it is the view of AFP that the president who takes office in 2025 needs to mark a "new chapter."

Thus far, the following major power players in the GOP have either confirmed they will not back Trump's 2024 presidential campaign or they are expected not to back it:

• Republican megadonors Robert Mercer and Rebekah Mercer
• GOP megadonors Stephen Schwarzman and Thomas Peterffy
• Media mogul Rupert Murdoch
• Hedge fund manager Ken Griffin
• Club For Growth
• Americans for Prosperity
• Koch network