'Block out the noise': Trump-backed DeSantis successor reveals winning lesson he learned from POTUS

WASHINGTON, DC: Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds said President Donald Trump personally taught him how to turn a presidential endorsement into a winning campaign, revealing in a new interview that traveling with Trump on the 2024 trail gave him a front-row view of the discipline, work ethic, and message focus that he is now replicating in his own race to succeed term-limited Gov Ron DeSantis.

Donalds, a congressman who spent much of 2024 campaigning across the country to help deliver Black voters to Trump, said the single most important lesson he absorbed was learning to tune out media distractions while staying locked on the mission.

Byron Donalds says Trump's team 'mastered the little things'

"The number one thing you learn to do is you block out the noise," Donalds told Joe Mullins in a recent interview.

"Watching President Trump with the media and the press always coming up with some crazy story that made no sense, that was just really meant to defame as opposed to inform people, you respond to the story, but you move on. You stay focused on the mission at hand," he added.  

Beyond message discipline, Donalds said he was struck by the operational precision of Trump's campaign team, pointing to ground-level execution as the foundation of the POTUS' electoral success. "Observing him and his campaign team, they mastered the little things," the congressman said.

"Making sure that they have people at the door, making sure they have people at polling locations, making sure that when they were doing events that they managed all the little things. Make sure people who come into your events are comfortable, and they have what they need to enjoy the event," the 47-year-old noted. 

"Being focused on what your message was, being focused on how you're contacting voters and communicating with the voters, and so we do that," Donalds expressed. 

Donalds also pointed to Trump's relentless work ethic as a defining characteristic he quickly identified as the key to converting a valuable endorsement into real momentum.

When Trump gave him his backing at the start of the gubernatorial race, Donalds said the president was clear-eyed about what came next.

"He said, 'You have my endorsement, and people think that's the end, but it's just the beginning,'" he recalled. "And I told him, 'Sir, I completely understand. I was riding shotgun on your campaign the last year. I saw how you do it, and we're gonna replicate that.'"

Byron Donalds refuses primary debates, eyes August finish

With a strong lead in the polls and Trump's endorsement secured, Donalds is following Trump's strategy by refusing to debate his primary opponents.

He argues they have not shown enough "viability" to share the stage with him, and he will not use his campaign to support them.

"I'm going to go talk to the people of Florida. My recommendation to these other campaigns is that they spend their time engaging with the people of Florida," he said.

The other candidates, which include Lt Gov Jay Collins, former House Speaker Paul Renner, and investor James Fishback, have continued to urge Donalds to join the debate before the August 18 primary.

So far, he has declined, sticking to the approach his political mentor showed him: ignore distractions, focus on the details, and keep moving ahead.