MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

DeSantis drops White House bid, Trump virtually assured of Republican candidacy

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts,” DeSantis said

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced Sunday he was dropping his bid to the White House, which would virtually guarantee former President Donald Trump to win the Republican primaries. DeSantis also announced he would be supporting the former head of state's return to power. However, Trump still needs to beat his former Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley to secure his nomination.

Among his reasons for stepping down, DeSantis claimed he had “no clear path to victory” ahead of him two days to go before the decisive New Hampshire primary. He also said it was clear after Iowa that most Republican voters had decided to give Trump another chance and insisted that besides his personal “disagreements” with Trump, his former mentor was still a much better choice than incumbent President Joseph Biden. In the Iowa primaries on Jan. 15, De Santis came in second way behind Trump and barely ahead of Haley. Polls put him in third place for Tuesday's New Hampshire round.

“Winston Churchill once remarked — Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts,” DeSantis said. “Thank you, and God bless.” However, the International Churchill Society said the alleged quote did not belong to the Conservative leader, although it is commonly attributed to him, appearing in motivational writings everywhere. The quote appears to be compiled from two separate quotes, in which he did say that “No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it,” and “Success always demands a greater effort.”

Citations aside, DeSantis explained that Trump “has my backing because we cannot go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear.” He also lashed out at Haley, whom he regarded as a symbol of cessions to progressive ideology.