'You'll always be my friend': Trump and Ron DeSantis put aside rivalry at 'Alligator Alcatraz'

NBC News

11 hours ago

There was no evidence of the onetime rivalry between President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis Tuesday as they came together in a common cause: opening an immigrant detention center in the swampy heart of Florida.
Trump and his top deputies visited the Everglades, where Florida officials delivered a win for his anti-immigration agenda and positioned the state on the forefront of his crackdown.
The facility, which Republican leaders dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz,' is set to house 3,000 detainees and took just eight days to construct.
'It might be as good as the real Alcatraz,' Trump told reporters Tuesday. 'It's a little controversial, but I couldn't care less.'
The push behind 'Alligator Alcatraz' is not only to keep Florida aligned with Trump on immigration but also to reposition some of the state's biggest Republican players politically. DeSantis, for instance, fought vocally with Trump during the 2024 presidential primary; during the visit on Tuesday, however, he and Trump praised each other.
"You are my friend, and you'll always be my friend, and we may have some skirmishes, even in the future. I doubt it, but I will always come back, because we have blood that seems to match pretty well," Trump said.
'I think it is a 10,' Trump added of his relationship with the governor. 'Maybe a 9.9… We get along great.'
DeSantis, unprompted, quickly chimed in with a reminder that he endorsed Trump as soon as he exited the presidential race in early 2024.
'The thing about it is, I endorsed him,' DeSantis said. 'Raised one of his PACs millions and millions of dollars.'
The comments came as Trump and DeSantis, along with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, toured the facility in a made-for-TV presentation of the opening of what is one of the largest immigrant detention facilities in the country.
A number of the media outlets on the tour were Trump-friendly organizations, who asked questions that praised the president or allowed him to hype his agenda.
One reporter asked him to weigh in on the 'disastrous handling of the border' by President Joe Biden's administration, while another had him comment on how his 'beloved New York City may well be led by a communist soon.'
'What's your message to Gov. Gavin Newsom?' right-wing YouTube personality Benny Johson asked.
Trump responded that the 'first thing' the California governor, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, should do, 'is come here and learn something.'
The political undertones of the event were hard to ignore. Among those invited by Trump to attend was Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican running for governor in 2026. At the same time, DeSantis' wife, Casey DeSantis, continues to eye a competing run for governor.
During a roundtable discussion Tuesday, Donalds — sitting just a couple of feet from DeSantis — said he 'commended' him for his work to combat illegal immigration. The moment represented political foes setting aside their feud, at least for the day.
The idea for Alligator Alcatraz was hatched last month by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a close DeSantis ally, but it received national traction when DeSantis did a live tour of the facility Friday on 'Fox and Friends,' which caught the Trump administration off guard.
Noem and top adviser Corey Lewandowski supported the facility but wanted the Tuesday opening to be the formal public rollout, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
'DeSantis upset Noem and Lewandowski with his Fox News tour of the detention site,' a Republican operative familiar with the process said. 'Noem wanted an event for Tuesday and didn't want anyone having eyes on the site and needed to push until Tuesday because she was traveling.'
The Republican operative said that Noem's staff asked DeSantis not to do the Fox tour.
'The DHS team asked DeSantis not to do his Friday event,' the person added. 'DeSantis did what was best for DeSantis and got out in front of the stronger, angering both Noem and Lewandowski.'
Another source familiar with the matter told NBC News the ire did not stem directly from the White House, but from Lewandowski.
'He lost his s---,' the person said.
Lewandowski and DeSantis' political team did not return requests seeking comment. The White House called the assertion 'fake news.'
'Leave it to the Fake News NBC to write about baseless gossip following a hugely successful event with President Trump, Secretary Noem and Governor DeSantis at Alligator Alcatraz,' White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement. 'Here's the real story that the state-of-the-art facility will play an important role in fulfilling the President's promise to keep Americans safe and deport criminal illegal aliens.'
'The President is grateful to work with both Secretary Noem and Governor DeSantis on this project,' she added.
Still, the event signaled that DeSantis was publicly rekindling his relationship with Trump, and to some degree was seen as a boon for his attempt to again regain national political footing for a potential presidential campaign in 2028, even as Vice President JD Vance is widely seen as the current frontrunner.
'No one thought Trump would so closely embrace DeSantis today,' a longtime Florida operative who was at the event said. 'We didn't think he would try to undercut him or insult him, but Trump was over the top in his praise today. I don't know what that means, but it was a good day for Ron DeSantis.'
The Everglades facility has given DeSantis and the state's Republican leaders, including Uthmeier, a boost to their fundraising efforts, even as Democrats have decried the effort as cruel to those accused of being in the country illegally.
''Alligator Alcatraz' is a callous political stunt,' said David Jolly, a former Republican member of Congress now running in 2026 as a Democrat for governor. 'Florida's most pressing challenge is the housing affordability crisis created by Republican leaders, not immigrants working to support our state's economy.'
Since the announcement of the facility, there have also been protests — including one on Tuesday for the opening — and a lawsuit filed by environmental groups concerned over the impact it could have on the Everglades.
The facility was made possible by DeSantis using emergency powers he first enacted in 2023. The state built what amounts to a tent city, hiring a dozen vendors and seizing land from Miami-Dade County over local leaders' objections. The facility is housed on a little-used airstrip that includes a runway that DeSantis said can be used to quickly fly undocumented immigrants to third countries if deportation is deemed appropriate.