Former Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) told MSNBC’s Alex Witt that the reason Gov. Ron DeSantis cannot surpass former President Donald Trump in the GOP presidential primary is because he’s running a “copycat campaign.”

Although DeSantis is the closest rival to Trump in the crowded Republican field, the two-term governor of Florida trails the Republican leader by an average of more than 32 points, according to Real Clear Politics.

Political experts and pundits have theorized that DeSantis’ inability to connect with the conservative base and attack Trump will lead to the undoing of his presidential bid.

“The fact is that Ron DeSantis isn’t gaining traction in this Republican primary, at least not as much as he would like to, because he has run a copycat campaign of Donald Trump,” said Curbelo. “By the way, this is how he got to the governor’s mansion in 2018. He followed the Trump playbook to the tee. The problem this year is that Trump is standing in his way. It’s very hard to use someone’s playbook against him.”

Curbelo noted that DeSantis should focus more on his 2022 midterm victory in the state of Florida and try to separate his immigration policy from Trumps.

“They think that they can steal Trump’s base by imitating Trump. And that’s just not how things work,” he added. “He’s trying to outdo Trump on immigration. That’s just not a realistic goal. Donald Trump has a lot of credibility with Republican primary voters on the immigration issue. And perhaps what DeSantis should try to do is explain why a different approach would be better and more effective at solving the immigration situation in our country.”

Watch above via MSNBC.

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