“I think he definitely feels threatened by the governor,” one GOP donor, who has given to both Trump and DeSantis, said of the former president. “I can’t necessarily blame him, because there are a lot of people right now who are very interested in what Ron DeSantis has to say, and I think that’s especially true at CPAC.”

Trump has griped behind the scenes for months about DeSantis’s rapid political rise, including chatter about a future White House bid. Fueling the complaints is the Florida governor’s apparent refusal to say publicly that he won’t challenge Trump in 2024 should the former president mount another campaign for the White House…

Keith Naughton, a veteran Republican strategist, said that Trump is also constrained in his ability to attack DeSantis, noting the Florida governor’s rising popularity among Republican voters, as well as the fact that he’s up for reelection this year.

“Anyone who has come close to him, he’s knocked them down,” Naughton said. “His problem now though is that DeSantis is really popular among Republicans, and Trump obviously doesn’t want a Democrat being governor of Florida.”