After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the 2024 Republican presidential primary earlier this week and endorsed former President Donald Trump, reaction among many pro-Trump media voices is split between people who want to permanently jettison him from the conservative movement for daring to challenge Trump and those who want to encourage his political future.

A handful of figures — notably including Trump adviser Steve Bannon — mocked DeSantis’ “petulant” Trump endorsement, and wanted to “send him to Siberia” for his betrayal. However, a larger contingent, featuring many of the right-wing media voices that built and then broke DeSantis’ 2024 ambitions, are papering over the fresh wounds to position him (again) as an heir apparent to Trump.

As the primary field narrows to two candidates -- only one of which has enjoyed two wins, months of polling leads, and years of adoring coverage from right-wing media -- how said media handles DeSantis' exit could preview a Trump-less future where he once again seeks to be the conservative movement's standard-bearer. 

“Send them to Siberia because these are, to me, almost unforgivable sins,” Bannon said of DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Trump’s last remaining major GOP competitor. “A quarter of a billion dollars spent on what were vanity projects for these politicians. … All of it was just to hurt President Trump and blunt the MAGA movement.”

“That’s how dead wrong the Murdochs are, that’s how dead wrong the money is,” Bannon said, attacking DeSantis’ donors and media supporters. “They think they’re the smartest people in the universe. They’re morons. And they’re dangerous morons,” he emphasized, before suggesting that the money backing DeSantis and Haley could have instead gone to MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s so-called “election integrity” efforts.

Bannon even mocked DeSantis for endorsing Trump, saying he delivered it “like the little nine-year-old petulant child that Ron DeSantis is. Ron DeSantis who’s never going to be president of the United States,” Bannon said. “You just spent — burned $150 million in Iowa, dude. You can’t come back from that. It leaves a permanent mark.”

In an interview, National Pulse editor-in-chief (and Bannon’s former Breitbart colleague) Raheem Kassam concurred that DeSantis had a “petulant” attitude during the endorsement, before dressing down his “disingenuity” as a campaigner because “he’s not a populist.”

“He talks down to people. We saw it on a daily basis,” Kassam noted. “He really doesn’t like interacting with people. He doesn’t like hearing their stories. Doesn’t really like shaking their hands. He likes wiping his hands on them, which is a weird thing he does as well.” 

“No, he does,” Kassam insisted over Bannon’s laughter. “It’s really weird. Pretty awkward as a character.”

Longtime Trump adviser and DeSantis foe Roger Stone, who previously called the governor “a cold fish who doesn’t like people,” posted a simple pun on the governor’s name, “Definished,” on X (formerly Twitter) before editing the post to credit him for ultimately endorsing Trump, “however grudgingly.” 

Stone’s reaction heralded the possibility that DeSantis may not be headed to Siberia as Bannon wished, but that his future support in conservative media may remain solid.

“I’m pleased to see that he is out of the race,” said Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk, adding that “Gov. DeSantis is America’s greatest governor. He should go back to Florida … and continue to govern. He’s got a lot of time to catch up for.” 

Although Kirk had plenty of criticism for DeSantis’ “poor campaign” as well as the “weak” and “half-hearted” endorsement, he also thanked him for putting “the country over his own personal stuff” with Trump and pledged that he’s “not going to attack Gov. DeSantis personally or anything,” instead preparing to focus on the general election.

On his radio show, Fox’s Sean Hannity devoted a significant chunk of his January 22 episode to praising DeSantis. “The story of Florida is phenomenal,” Hannity boasted, later adding that “if we're looking for leaders in the conservative movement, you know, you cannot have a list that doesn't have at the very top of it somebody like Gov. Ron DeSantis.”

“Watch out for Gov. DeSantis. He's going to be back,” Hannity predicted. “He's going to be better for the experience. … Conservatives are going to look toward him.”

Several of Hannity’s Fox colleagues agreed. The Five’s Greg Gutfeld said DeSantis “did a great job, and he did a great service. He basically stress-tested Trump and removed the what-ifs from 2024,” adding a clunky metaphor about electric vehicles to suggest that DeSantis “will be needed later, just not right now.” 

On The Ingraham Angle, Laura Ingraham similarly said she “always had great respect for how DeSantis has led” Florida, and it “represents the future of the Republican Party.” 

And on Hannity’s TV show, Fox contributor Newt Gingrich agreed that DeSantis “has a great future” and “has been an extraordinarily good governor,” before advising Haley to “find a graceful way, as Gov. DeSantis did, to get out of the race.”

“The objective reality is it’s over,” the former GOP House Speaker announced. “This is now Donald Trump's party.”