Donald Trump’s Thursday evening event will raise money for the principal super PAC supporting his candidacy, MAGA Inc.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

DeSantis also held a political retreat last year that drew a number of prominent Republican figures, including now-Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former Trump White House press secretary.

Donors are focused on whether DeSantis, who is about to publish a new book and has been upping his national travel of late, uses this week’s event to drop any hints about his anticipated presidential bid. The retreat will also be scrutinized for which donors attend — including how many of them were once Trump backers who may be looking to defect from the former president to the Florida governor.

The list of defectors includes Arizona donor Don Tapia, a retired electrical company executive who served as Trump’s ambassador to Jamaica. Tapia was a six-figure contributor to Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns — but said that he had decided to back DeSantis should he run in 2024.

Tapia, who gave more than $50,000 to DeSantis’ reelection bid and hosted a pair of fundraisers for him, contended that donors had grown tired of Trump’s attacks on DeSantis and predicted that the retreat would “overwhelmingly” be attended by former Trump supporters.

“The name-calling has turned a lot of people off,” Tapia said of Trump. “Let me tell you, we don’t like that.”