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Something you may be surprised to hear is that Ron DeSantis<\/strong> has not yet actually announced he is running for president in 2024. Oh, sure, with his trips to DC to drum up<\/a> Republican support, the memoir<\/a> he released in February, and the overseas tour he\u2019s currently on<\/a>, he sure seems<\/em> like a guy who is quite obviously gunning for the White House, but officially, he is not. And according a new report, the Florida governor\u2019s backers are desperate for him to jump in ASAP\u2014with some fearing it might already be too late.<\/p>\n NBC News reports<\/a> that a number of DeSantis\u2019s allies are \u201curging him to declare as early as May 11, to counter the creeping national narrative that former President Donald Trump<\/strong> is the overwhelming front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination.\u201d After a post-midterms honeymoon period in which the dominant consensus was that the Florida governor was the future<\/a> of the Republican Party\u2014and that Trump was an old news loser<\/a>\u2014the ex-president has surged in the polls. In the most recent one released<\/a> on Tuesday, Trump held a massive 37-point lead over DeSantis among potential GOP primary voters. \u201cA good politician knows when their moment is and they seize the opportunity; there\u2019s no question that the door is swinging against DeSantis,\u201d Dennis Lennox,<\/strong> a Michigan-based GOP strategist told NBC News. \u201cGov. DeSantis is the only Republican who can beat Trump. He is the only Republican who can beat Joe Biden.<\/strong> But he\u2019s starting to look like a Scott Walker<\/strong> in 2015, Newt Gingrich<\/strong> in 2012, and Fred Thompson in 2008\u2014maybe even a Chris Christie,<\/strong> who ended up not getting into the race.\u201d (Christie opted against running in 2012, which many politicos\u2014including, apparently, DeSantis<\/a>\u2014see as a missed opportunity.)<\/p>\n In addition to allowing unfavorable comparisons to take hold, DeSantis\u2019s decision to mostly not respond to Trump\u2019s near-daily attacks on him have also been cause for concern<\/a>. Among other things, the ex-president has hammered<\/a> the Florida governor on his record on Medicare and Social Security<\/a>; blasted<\/a> him over his war against Disney<\/a>; and implied he may have groomed high school girls<\/a> while working as a teacher. He\u2019s also claimed, more than once, that DeSantis cried<\/a> while begging him for a gubernatorial endorsement in 2018; that he would be working at a \u201cPizza Hut\u201d<\/a>\u00a0if it wasn\u2019t for the former president; and that DeSantis may have a small penis<\/a>.<\/p>\n (Asked about Trump\u2019s grooming claims, DeSantis\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0reporters: \u201cI spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden. That\u2019s how I spend my time. I don\u2019t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.\u201d)<\/p>\n The decision to not jump into the race yet has also given the country time to take a closer look at DeSantis and, in many cases, decide they don\u2019t like what they see when they see him:<\/p>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nTwitter content<\/h4>\n