
<p>Recently, giving his most definitive answer yet, a defiant Ron DeSantis said he would not drop out of the race nor offer his endorsement to Donald Trump.</p>



<p>In an interview with ABC News, despite his low poll numbers, the Florida governor said that regardless of what happens in Iowa next week, he is staying in the race.</p>



<p>DeSantis said he plans to do &#8220;well&#8221; in the caucuses but promised to stay in the primary for the &#8220;long haul&#8221; regardless of the results.</p>



<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve done everything we need to do,&#8221; he said.</p>



<p>About a week after the caucuses, DeSantis will compete in the New Hampshire primary but has lost substantial ground there, per polls, ;and now trails ;rival Nikki Haley.</p>



<p>&#8220;I like to be written off. I like to be the underdog,&#8221; he told Scott.</p>



<p>Trump has said on the campaign trail that DeSantis is going to leave the race right after Iowa and endorse him.</p>



<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a lie, totally fabricated,&#8221; DeSantis told ABC News. &#8220;But, you know, they do that because they want some of the caucusgoers to think, well, I&#8217;ll do it.&#8221;</p>



<p>However, as further evidence of his failed candidacy, DeSantis has shown an increased willingness to attack Trump directly. In the same ABC News interview, he challenged Trump&#8217;s recent comment about &#8220;negotiating&#8221; a settlement to the Civil War.</p>



<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t even know what he&#8217;s talking about,&#8221; DeSantis told ABC&#8217;s Rachel Scott of Trump&#8217;s remarks. &#8220;I mean, Lincoln did what he had to do. He ended up ushering in the abolition of slavery, and he saved the Union. That&#8217;s a huge victory for the Republican Party.&#8221;</p>



<p>Among other remarks about the “War Between the States,&#8221; Trump said that had Lincoln negotiated the issues rather than fought a war over them, “nobody would have even heard of Abraham Lincoln.”</p>



<p>&#8220;So, I don&#8217;t know. Relitigating that doesn&#8217;t make much sense to me,&#8221; DeSantis added. In a statement, a Trump spokesperson slammed critics of what he said about the Civil War, blaming &#8220;elitists&#8221; for &#8220;spew[ing] their hatred.&#8221;</p>

DeSantis Will Not Drop Out and Endorse Trump!
