Don Tapia, who served as the Donald Trump White House’s U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica from 2019 to 2021, said he’ll support Ron DeSantis over the ex-POTUS should the GOP Florida governor run for president in 2024.
Trump’s “name-calling has turned a lot of people off,” the retired electrical company executive told Politico in an article published Tuesday.
“Let me tell you, we don’t like that,” he added.
Tapia reportedly made six-figure contributions to Trump’s campaigns in both 2016 and 2020, when Trump would repeatedly call his rivals insulting names.
Tapia later donated $50,000 to DeSantis’ gubernatorial reelection bid and has hosted fundraisers for the governor, who also has his own history of calling his adversaries names.
DeSantis has yet to officially announce a 2024 run but an upcoming three-day Florida retreat for him will be “overwhelmingly” attended by former Trump backers, said Tapia, who joins a growing list of Republican donors who have distanced themselves from Trump in recent months.
