Ron DeSantis ramps up pressure on Nikki Haley to endorse Trump: Florida Governor claims she signed the pledge promising she would stand behind the nominee and can't just 'take your ball and go home'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis knocked Nikki Haley in an interview Wednesday for dropping out of the presidential race and not immediately endorsing former President Donald Trump. 

DeSantis, a failed 2024 hopeful, responded to the news that the Republican primary was essentially over during a Newsmax interview Wednesday night on Eric Bolling's The Balance show.

Haley exited the 2024 race Wednesday after being clobbered in the Super Tuesday primaries. 

She didn't endorse Trump in her Charleston concession speech, despite signing a Republican National Committee pledge saying she would back the nominee in exchange for getting to appear on the GOP debate stage.  

'I signed the pledge and you sign the pledge saying that you're gonna not take your ball and go home,' said DeSantis, who folded up his presidential campaign in late January and endorsed Trump then-and-there. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (right) knocked Nikki Haley for dropping out of the presidential race and not immediately endorsing Trump in an interview with Newsmax's Eric Bolling (left) on Wednesday 

'And so I honored the pledge and she's gonna have to make a decision about whether she wants to or not,' DeSantis continued. 'But the idea that somehow circumstances have changed.'

Ahead of her exit from the race, Haley floated that she might ignore the RNC pledge during an interview Sunday on Meet the Press with NBC's Kristen Welker. 

'No, I think I'll make what decision I want to make,' Haley said when pressed if she'd endorse Trump if she dropped out. 

Haley floated she could get away with doing so because 'the RNC is now not the same RNC.' 

Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel officially leaves as the head of the party Friday and Trump has already endorsed North Carolina GOP Chairman Michael Whatley to take her place, as well as his daughter-in-law Lara Trump to serve as co-chair. 

Trump also gave a nod to his top campaign adviser, Chris LaCivita, to take over as the party's chief operating officer. 

DeSantis suggested he didn't think the RNC's reshuffle - to be much more MAGA - changed the meaning of the pledge. 

Republican presidential race Nikki Haley bowed out of the 2024 race Wednesday after a disappointing Super Tuesday showing. Days before she exited the election she told NBC's Kristen Welker that she may not bide by a pledge she signed to support the GOP nominee 

'I think we all knew what we were doing when we did that,' he said.  'And you gotta make a judgment about whether that's meaningful to you and so for me, I tell people if I say I'm going to do something I'm going to do it,' the Florida governor said.

Endorsing Trump hasn't necessarily helped DeSantis mend any fences with the ex-president and his allies, though the ex-president has retired DeSantis' nickname 'DeSanctimonious.'

DeSantis ruffled feathers with Trumpworld in late February by telling supporters that he would not serve as Trump's running mate. 

He also chided conservative media for consistently giving Trump a pass, according to an account of the conversation in The New York Times.

'He said at some point he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose a vote,' DeSantis said of Trump. 'Well, I think he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, and the conservative media wouldn't even report on it.' 

LaCivita did not care for DeSantis' comments.  

'chicken fingers and pudding cups is what you will be remembered for you sad little man,' the Trump campaign official posted to X, sharing NBC's version of the story.