Trump demolished Ron DeSantis after steadily hiring political operatives that DeSantis had gotten rid of

• Trump destroyed Ron DeSantis after steadily snapping up staffers that DeSantis had abandoned.
• He picked up at least four operatives who had worked on DeSantis' congressional or gubernatorial campaigns.

Former President Donald Trump didn't just annihilate Ron DeSantis in the 2024 election; he did it after months of steadily snapping up staffers that the Florida governor had spurned.

DeSantis dropped out of the presidential race on Sunday after a devastating 30-percentage-point loss to Trump in last week's Iowa caucuses.

"Bye bye," top Trump staffer Susie Wiles wrote on X in response to the news.

DeSantis' decision to drop out likely yielded a unique sense of schadenfreude for Wiles, who was instrumental in getting DeSantis elected governor in 2018 and served as his political operative until he fired her in 2019, following allegations that she leaked an internal fundraising document.

But Trump recognized Wiles' political acumen from the get-go; according to The Daily Beast, he hired her to work on his 2016 campaign as well as his 2020 reelection campaign.

Wiles rose through the ranks this election season, and is among a few campaign staffers who were put in charge of building Trump's formidable political operation.

Wiles isn't the only former DeSantis staffer who helped Trump bury his one-time rival. Politico reported that the Trump campaign also hired Brian Hughes, who worked on DeSantis' 2012 congressional campaign, to run Trump's Florida operation.

The ex-president's team also hired James Blair, DeSantis' deputy chief of staff, and Justin Caporale, a former DeSantis aide, according to Politico.

DeSantis was once seen as Trump's biggest political threat, but his campaign was marred by a glitchy kickoff on Twitter, an ill-advised war against Disney, and a confrontational style of conservatism that failed to gin up support among Republican primary voters.

"I can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don't have a clear path to victory," DeSantis said in his announcement Sunday. "It's clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance."

Trump, for his part, thanked DeSantis for his endorsement, calling the Florida governor "very gracious."

He also said he would retire the "Ron DeSanctimonious" nickname, delivering DeSantis at least one victory, however small, in the 2024 election.