Ice thawing? Trump and DeSantis meet as former Republican rivals make peace to ... trends now

Former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis met for the first time in months on Sunday, with signs they make broker peace from a tough primary to beat Joe Biden in November.

DeSantis ran against Trump for the Republican nomination in 2024, before dropping out on January 21 after a lackluster finish in Iowa and endorsed the former president. 

However, the Florida chief executive has expressed skepticism about Trump, having said he has 'too much baggage' to run as vice president and saying some Republicans will never vote for him.

On the other side, Trump ran scorched earth against DeSantis - or 'DeSanctimonius' as he referred to him on the trail often - as he did against all of his opponents and his donors have expressed fury over the governor's criticism. 

DeSantis - whom Trump shot into the stratosphere with a 2018 endorsement for governor - requested a meeting with Trump on Sunday in Miami in an attempt to make nice agains their common foe: Joe Biden.

The meeting was arranged by Florida real estate broker Steve Witkoff, according to Politico. 

Trump and DeSantis, according to several people interviewed, talked about how they could work together on the campaign trail. 

The Trump campaign confirmed the meeting happened and described it as 'good', while multiple DeSantis donors praised the move as 'smart' on the governor's part.

Roy Bailey, a finance chair for the DeSantis presidential campaign, believes this is great news for Trump. 

'It's a great development and makes perfect sense for Trump, Desantis and all Republicans,' he said. 

'Gov. DeSantis had a really strong volunteer finance team and if we could plug that in and help Trump then that's what we need to do — and want to do. It's important to all get together and row in the same direction.' 

The Florida Governor, widely considered the future of the Republican party and initially the favorite to take down Trump, announced he was suspending his campaign in a surprise video in late January. 

It followed mounting speculation that donors were fleeing and his campaign was struggling to find a path to make a dent in Trump's huge polling lead.