Political expert Dick Morris warned Newsmax on Monday that Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis' imminent far-right campaign could end up hurting Republicans in 2024.
Joining "Rob Schmitt Tonight," Morris acknowledged that DeSantis could do well in some early primaries, but he warned that his more stringent views on certain issues could hurt the GOP later.
"I don't think he has a chance to win, but he certainly has a chance to screw it up for [former President Donald] Trump and whoever the Republicans nominate," Morris explained, "because his strategy is to take strong right-wing positions on everything from abortion to gun control and other stuff."
"Trump wants to do more moderate positions, and if DeSantis forces him to move to the right, ... DeSantis could beat him in some of the early primaries, ... but then he couldn't win in November," he added.
Morris went on to give past examples of the same dynamic occurring in past Republican primaries, specifically the bids of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.
Huckabee, Santorum, and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas "won the Iowa caucuses and then couldn't go on and win the general election," Morris stated. "And that's because to win Iowa, you have to take really strong right-wing positions that make it very hard to appeal to centrist voters."
The political expert's comments arrive just two days before the Florida Republican is expected to announce in Miami his official entry into the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, The Wall Street Journal reported.
DeSantis currently trails Trump by nearly 33 percentage points, 53.5% to 20.8%, in a FiveThirtyEight average of primary polls conducted thus far.
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