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- Many of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' former staffers told Politico they felt abused by the politician.
- A group of the ex-staffers have formed a "support group" to discuss their experiences
- DeSantis is closely aligned with former president Donald Trump, who recently said he'd consider the governor as a potential running mate.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a rising star in the Republican Party. But many of his former staffers told Politico they felt used and abused by the MAGA politician.
A group of former DeSantis staffers have formed a "support group" to regularly discuss their adverse experiences working for the governor, Playbook reported Friday. DeSantis reportedly has very few veteran advisers and largely relies on himself and his wife, Casey DeSantis, to guide his political strategy.
"Loyalty and trust, that is not a currency he deals in," one former adviser told Politico. "It's him and Casey. But everyone else is like a disposable piece of garbage."
After DeSantis faced widespread criticism for saying his Black competitor in the 2018 governor's race would "monkey up" the state, DeSantis and his wife reportedly blamed campaign staffers for the fallout. DeSantis fired five aides within the first few months of taking office as governor. And he reportedly had the leader of the Florida Republican Party fire a staffer in their first week back at work after having surgery for cancer.
The governor's former chief of staff, Shane Strum, said in a statement to Politico that DeSantis "empowered me to make sure that everyone who worked for him had the best interests of the state at heart."
"We didn't tolerate leakers, and we didn't tolerate grifters," Strum said.
DeSantis is closely aligned with former president Donald Trump, who recently said he'd consider the governor as a potential running mate if he decides to run for president in 2024.
"He's a friend of mine," Trump said last month, taking credit for DeSantis' success. "I endorsed Ron, and after I endorsed him, he took off like a rocket ship. He's done a great job as governor."