DeSantis: Republicans will lose if they behave like Trump

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sharply criticized his chief 2024 rival during a town hall in New Hampshire that aired Friday, telling the audience former President Donald Trump's behavior could cause Republicans to lose.

"These insults are so phony, these insults are juvenile. That is not the way a great nation should be conducting itself. That is not the way the president of the United States should be conducting himself," DeSantis said on WMUR's "Conversation With the Candidate," which was taped Tuesday.

DeSantis said at the town hall that he's not going to insult somebody's looks or dress and wouldn't teach his kids to treat people like that.

"As Republicans, that will cause us to lose if we behave that way. There are millions of voters out there who do not like what Biden is doing to this country," DeSantis added. "They do not like the direction the country is going in. But they aren't going to sign up for a candidate who is behaving like that. So, let's be better. Let's look higher, and let's set a good standard for our children to follow."

While he acknowledged he was a "big supporter" of Trump, DeSantis called him out for running on failed promises from 2016, like eliminating the national debt, having Mexico pay for a border wall and draining the "swamp" in Washington, DC.

DeSantis said elsewhere Friday that the "theories" put out by Trump and his associates following the 2020 election were "unsubstantiated" and "did not prove to be true."

"I've said many times, the election is what it is. All those theories that were put out, did not prove to be true," DeSantis told reporters traveling on his "Never Back Down" bus tour in Iowa. "What I've also said is the way you conduct a good election that people have confidence in, you don't change the rules in the middle of the game."