President Trump told a reporter Friday that he would consider appointing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to a cabinet position after DeSantis leaves office next year, a remark that signals just how far the two Republicans have traveled since their bruising 2024 primary fight.
"Well, I like him a lot," Trump said when asked about the prospect, the New York Post reported. The president did not name a specific post.
The comment lands at a moment when Trump has already reshuffled his cabinet aggressively, ousting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer in recent months. He has yet to nominate permanent replacements for the attorney general and labor secretary positions, leaving two significant vacancies that a governor with executive experience and a law degree could plausibly fill.
DeSantis was among Trump's most prominent challengers in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. He came in a distant second in the Iowa caucuses before his campaign fizzled out. Trump, never one to let a grudge go quietly, tagged him with the nickname "Ron DeSanctimonious" during the contest.
But DeSantis endorsed Trump after dropping out, and the two have since built a working relationship that looks nothing like the primary season. In July, Trump toured DeSantis's "Alligator Alcatraz" detention facility for illegal immigrants in the Everglades. The two shook hands at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Fla., on the facility's opening day.
Trump's review of the operation was characteristically blunt. He rated DeSantis "10 out of 10, maybe 9.9."
That kind of public praise from a president who once mocked DeSantis on the campaign trail tells you everything about where the relationship stands now. It also tells you something about DeSantis, who chose alignment over resentment, and has been rewarded with proximity to power.
The Florida governor has not been subtle about demonstrating his usefulness to the Trump agenda. He signed state legislation renaming roads and even the airport near Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate after the president. Earlier this month, DeSantis praised Trump's executive action on college athletics, which he described as aimed at "restoring order, fairness, and stability." That order would, among other things, allow student athletes to transfer to a different school once without being forced to sit out a season.
Most recently, DeSantis pushed new congressional maps in Florida that could net Republicans four more House seats in the 2026 midterms, a direct assist as Trump fights to keep Congress under GOP control. That kind of structural help matters more than any press conference.
The pattern is clear. DeSantis has spent the months since the primary making himself indispensable on immigration enforcement, legislative support, and electoral strategy. Whether that was always aimed at earning a cabinet nod is an open question. But it has put him squarely in the conversation, as seen in other recent GOP shakeups driven by Trump's personnel decisions.
The Wall Street Journal and Axios have both reported that DeSantis previously expressed interest in the positions of defense secretary or attorney general. Trump's Friday remark did not specify which role he might have in mind, but the vacancies in his cabinet are real and growing.
The departures of Noem, Bondi, and Chavez-DeRemer have left the administration with gaps in homeland security, justice, and labor. Trump has filled the DHS post but still lacks permanent nominees for attorney general and labor secretary. DeSantis's second term as governor ends in January 2027, which aligns neatly with the "next year" timeline Trump referenced.
Newsmax reported that Trump told reporters, "Nobody's asked me that. I like him a lot," when pressed on the idea of DeSantis joining the cabinet, suggesting the notion had not been widely floated before Friday but that the president was open to it.
The defense secretary slot has also been part of the conversation. Fox News previously reported that Trump considered nominating DeSantis for defense secretary in place of Pete Hegseth, who faced drinking and sexual misconduct allegations that complicated his Senate confirmation path. Multiple sources told Fox News at the time that DeSantis was "very much" in contention, and that Trump himself floated DeSantis's name during a meeting in Florida.
That earlier episode never resulted in a formal nomination, but it established DeSantis as someone Trump views as cabinet-caliber, not just a governor running out his term.
Trump's willingness to consider DeSantis also reflects the broader pattern of his second term: a president who moves personnel quickly, rewards loyalty, and does not hesitate to replace appointees who fall short. The recent ousters of Noem, Bondi, and Chavez-DeRemer were not accompanied by lengthy public explanations. They simply happened.
That approach has produced a string of surprise nomination changes that have kept Washington guessing and kept Republican senators busy with confirmation hearings.
For DeSantis, the calculus is straightforward. He is term-limited. He cannot run for governor again. A cabinet appointment would keep him in the national arena and give him executive-branch experience at the federal level, a credential no Florida statehouse can provide.
For Trump, adding DeSantis would bring in a governor who has demonstrated he can execute on immigration enforcement, manage a large state bureaucracy, and deliver political results. The "Alligator Alcatraz" facility alone showed a willingness to act on border policy at the state level that few other governors have matched.
The New York Post requested comment from a representative for DeSantis. No response was reported.
Trump's remark was broad. He did not name a specific cabinet role, did not set a timeline beyond "next year," and did not indicate whether any formal discussions have taken place. The comment could represent a genuine preview of a future appointment, or it could be the kind of off-the-cuff praise Trump offers to allies who have earned his approval.
The distinction matters. Trump has reshuffled nominees before based on Senate dynamics, personal chemistry, and shifting priorities. A Friday comment to a reporter is not a nomination announcement.
Still, the open attorney general and labor secretary vacancies are real. DeSantis's January 2027 availability is real. And the political reconciliation between the two men, once rivals, now collaborators on immigration, redistricting, and the broader conservative policy agenda, is real.
In politics, the people who make themselves useful tend to get the call. DeSantis has spent the last year making sure the president has his number.
