BREAKING: DeSantis DROPS OUT of 2024 race, endorses Trump for president

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has given up his bid to be the GOP nominee for president in 2024. Top aides are reportedly discussing just how to exit the race after a disappointing second place finish in the Iowa caucuses last week. In a video posted to X, DeSantis spoke to the critical time in American society, said that he doesn't have "a clear path to victory," and endorsed Donald Trump for president.

"It's clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance," he said. "They watch his presidency gets stymied by relentless resistance, and they see Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him. While, I've had disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the Coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current incumbent Joe Biden. That is clear.

"I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honor that pledge is my endorsement because we can't go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, or repackage formed of warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents. The days of putting Americans last of kowtowing to large corporations, of caving to woke ideology are over."

DeSantis thanked voters and supporters. He spent some $120 million on his campaign.

Polling in New Hampshire favors Trump, as does polling across the country, but instead of DeSantis in second place, Nikki Haley looks to be in that spot with 39 percent of the vote. Democrats, too, are making moves to vote for Haley in the Tuesday contest.

Since the defeat in Iowa, speculation has swirled as to how long DeSantis would continue to pursue his presidential ambitions. On Saturday, it was reported that he cancelled his appearances on CNN and on Meet the Press. 

Politico ran an opinion column saying that "The DeSantis Team Ran the Worst Campaign in History," while The New York Times and NBC ran their own obits for the Florida governor's fruitless campaign. NBC called it a "total failure to launch," claiming that "muddled messages" and "hiring too many staffers" are some of the ways it "all went wrong" for DeSantis and his team.

A blog from The Conundrum Cluster stated that part of the problem were DeSantis' policies, which were solid, but both essentially Trumpist and "difficult to dissociate" from "whatever was popular in Republican online circles at the time." 

In a recent interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, DeSantis lamented his campaign strategy of limiting his media appearances and being incredibly selective about to whom he would give interviews or access. "I should have just been blanketing," he said, "I should have gone on all the corporate shows. I should have gone on everything." 

This is a breaking story and will be updated.