‘I’m allowed to have my own viewpoint’: Byron Donalds walks the Trump tightrope
The Florida gubernatorial candidate told POLITICO’s “The Conversation” that the decision to remove the president from his website was made to focus on “the people of Florida.”
By Cheyanne M. Daniels and Dasha Burns
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) defended his relationship with President Donald Trump in an interview for POLITICO’s “The Conversation” podcast, backing some of Trump’s high-profile decisions while staking out some distance as he seeks to win his state’s governorship in November.
In an interview with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns, Donalds said there is no tension between him and Trump, as he tries to win in a state that has rushed toward Republicans during the Trump era but may be competitive this year due to the president’s unpopularity.
“I’m a supporter of the president. He’s a supporter of mine,” Donalds said. “But I think the misconception is people think that the president just wants ‘yes’ men. That’s actually not true. … I think there’s times where, yes, the president and I, we don’t agree on policy, and that’s fine.”
He also defended striking some references of Trump from his website, saying he wanted to be “focusing on the people of Florida” and that the decision to change the website followed a month and a half of planning.
“We really were saying internally as a campaign, we wanna make sure that when voters, especially undecided voters, when they go to look to get information on our campaign, we wanna make sure it’s focused on them,” said Donalds.
Until late last month, Donalds’ website featured several references to the president, including prominently displaying Trump’s endorsement along with a photo of Donalds and his wife standing with Trump. While Trump’s endorsement is still on the website, it is featured among a revolving page of quotes praising Donalds.
Donalds denied that the change created any tension with the president.
“He was always there. I think this is a misconception in the media,” Donalds said. “Even when I looked at the final run of the website, we looked through it all. I looked through every tab, saw where the president was still on the website before it went live. I think what you had are some news outlets in Florida who were trying to come out with a hot take.”
Yet Donalds’ decision reflects a broader trend of Republican candidates distancing themselves from Trump ahead of November’s midterm elections, driven in part by the president’s plummeting approval ratings. Recent polling shows Trump’s approval at a historic low, heightening concerns among Republicans hoping to retain control of Congress.
Donalds has also begun to distance himself from the president on issues related to artificial intelligence. Trump, a strong proponent for expanding AI technology and for blocking states from instituting their own regulations, has repeatedly called for expanding the number of data centers around the nation, including Florida.
While Trump has previously said communities that don’t want data centers will end up “backwards and poor,” Donalds has pushed for a policy that would require developers to bear the brunt of the costs, rather than receive funding from the government.
“I’m allowed to have my own viewpoint about how we’re gonna govern Florida,” Donalds said. He appeared to show support for his running mate Bryan Avila’s bill in the state Legislature, which would grant local governments the authority on whether a data center is built.
“These are massive structures,” he said. “Local communities should decide if it’s gonna be in their community or not, and we wanna respect that.”
Still, Donalds defended the president on several occasions, including saying he disagreed with other Republicans who have called for a swift end to the Iran war. He told Burns that he credits Trump “a good portion” for his rise within the GOP — and he does not see Trump’s support as a liability.
“Our voters in the base of our party love the president,” said Donalds. “When he comes to town, voter turnout goes up. You see it every single time.”
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