Ron DeSantis wanted to be like Trump. Now he's trying to prove he's not to win Iowa

This is a story about Ron DeSantis trying to win the Iowa caucuses, which means it's also a story about Donald Trump.

DeSantis voters in Iowa even hear an echo of Trump — sort of — at the Florida governor's events. Before introducing DeSantis, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie did an impression of the former president, telling crowds about a threat he said Trump once made to him.

"I'm coming at you," Massie told the crowd in Davenport last weekend, affecting Trump's distinctive New York accent, to laughter. "I'm more popular than you, and you know it. I'm backing your primary opponent and you're gonna lose."

It's clear that the former president is looming heavily over the DeSantis campaign in the days before the Iowa primary contest. And perhaps unsurprisingly, it's also clear that Trump weighs heavily on DeSantis voters' minds as well.

Many DeSantis voters have considered choosing Trump. Ahead of a DeSantis event in Cedar Falls last weekend, Sarah Harbaugh said she is considering both, but also thinks Trump has too many enemies to be effective.

"My lean towards DeSantis is more just, I'm not sure that the media and the country would allow Trump to do what he wants to do. Where DeSantis, I think, might have a better chance at getting things done," she explained.

An alliance that fell apart

There's a turnabout here that's been years in the making. Back in 2018, when he was running for governor of Florida, DeSantis famously released an ad in which he taught his young children about Trump.

And Trump really liked DeSantis, endorsing and praising him. At one 2019 rally, Trump introduced DeSantis and praised his bod in the process.

"And then I see him without a shirt one day, and this guy is strong! And he's not fat — that's all