Trump adviser Jason Miller: ‘We saw the death of Ron DeSantis’s campaign tonight’

Trump adviser Jason Miller said viewers of the first GOP primary debate Wednesday night “saw the death” of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign.

“We saw the death of Ron DeSantis’s campaign tonight as Vivek Ramaswamy leapfrogged him into second place,” Miller said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” referring to the conservative entrepreneur. “DeSantis, it didn’t do good enough for him to tread water. He had to have a breakout moment, and Ramaswamy completely outshone him.”

While DeSantis has consistently polled in second place behind former President Trump, Ramaswamy was tied with DeSantis in a recent GOP primary poll. 

In what many observers considered DeSantis’s moment to set himself apart from the GOP field, the governor avoided direct attacks against most of the candidates, including Vivek Ramaswamy, who became the main target of the other Republican White House hopefuls in several exchanges. 

DeSantis also avoided directly answering multiple yes-or-no questions on topics including climate change and if former Vice President Mike Pence did the right thing Jan. 6, 2021.  

“I knew [former] President Trump wasn’t going to be there tonight,” Miller said on MSNBC. “I didn’t know Ron DeSantis was going to skip the debate as well.”

Trump, the current front-runner in the race, was not at the debate and instead sat for an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. 

Trump adviser Susie Wiles in a statement said the former president still “won” the debate in “dominating fashion,” claiming more people watched Trump’s interview with Carlson than the rest of the candidates on the debate stage. 

“What is clear after the dust settles: none of the other candidates looked ready to take on Crooked Joe Biden,” Wiles said.