Trump had a private lunch with Ron DeSantis at Doral last week and sources are now talking.
One job came up that nobody in Washington saw coming.
Whatever Trump decides, Democrats are already panicking — and they have every reason to be.
Trump and DeSantis Met at Doral and Now Washington Is Talking
Ron DeSantis spent eight years proving what a conservative executive can do when he actually fights.
He reopened Florida when blue-state governors were locking their citizens inside, took on Disney and won, and built one of the toughest immigration enforcement operations in the country – including the Everglades detention facility that had the Left screaming for months.
When the media came after him over the Parental Rights in Education bill, he didn't blink.
Now he leaves the governor's mansion in January 2027, term-limited out, and looking for the next arena.
He and Trump met for lunch at Doral last week, and according to Axios, three positions came up: Attorney General, Secretary of Defense, and the United States Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court option is the one worth paying attention to.
Clarence Thomas Is 77 and Samuel Alito Is 76 and Trump Wants His Next Pick to Serve 40 Years
Trump has been open about exactly what he wants in a Supreme Court nominee.
"It'd be nice to say, now I have somebody for 40 years," Trump told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo earlier this month.
Clarence Thomas is 77.
Samuel Alito is 76.
Both men have said they are not stepping down this year – and conservatives everywhere are grateful for their decades of service on the bench.
But both are at the age where the retirement conversation is inevitable, and Trump knows it.
When those seats open, Trump wants a warrior in that chair – not a technocrat, not a product of the legal establishment, but someone who has actually governed, fought the left at every level, and knows exactly how institutions get turned against conservative Americans.
Ron DeSantis is a Harvard Law graduate and Navy veteran who spent eight years doing exactly that.
Sources close to the discussions told Axios that DeSantis and Justice Thomas "almost have a father-son relationship" – and that a Trump nomination of DeSantis "would be a hell of a legacy."
DeSantis at 47, confirmed to a lifetime appointment, could be on that bench until 2055.
What a DeSantis Supreme Court Nomination Would Actually Mean
Putting someone like DeSantis on the Supreme Court would send Washington into a full meltdown.
This is a man who beat the corporate media, beat the teachers unions, and beat back the entire radical leftist machine that spent decades entrenching itself in Florida.
He knows how they operate – every lever of institutional power they use to block, delay, and reverse conservative wins.
A DeSantis confirmation fight would be the most watched Senate battle in a generation – and the Left knows it.
They spent years trying to destroy Clarence Thomas.
A DeSantis nomination would make those hearings look quiet.
DeSantis as Secretary of Defense Is Also on Trump's List
Trump seriously considered DeSantis for Secretary of Defense before settling on Pete Hegseth – and has told people he would revisit that decision if the position opened up.
It makes sense on paper: a Navy veteran who governed 22 million people and never flinched when the federal government came at him.
"What is more powerful, what projects more strength than to be the defense secretary?" one analyst told CBS Miami, adding that the role would give DeSantis a platform to build his national security credentials ahead of 2028.
The Attorney General conversation is real too, though Trump's inner circle is more measured there – not because of DeSantis' qualifications, but because Trump wants someone at Justice who stays in complete lockstep with the president's agenda.
Todd Blanche, serving as acting AG after Pam Bondi's departure, reportedly has about 90 days to show what he can do.
Trump told a confidant after the Doral lunch that DeSantis was "begging" to be AG – and sources say Trump is inclined to help him find a role.
That is a president who respects what DeSantis built in Florida, looking for the right position to put one of the strongest conservative executives in the country to work at the national level.
Ron DeSantis at the Pentagon, Main Justice, or on the Supreme Court for the next 30 years is the left's nightmare.
Sources:
- Marc Caputo, "Scoop: DeSantis 'begging' Trump for prime role in administration," Axios, April 21, 2026.
- Sarah Rumpf, "Term-Limited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Is 'Begging' Trump for His Next Gig: Report," Mediaite, April 21, 2026.
- Jim DeFede, "DeSantis becoming Secretary of Defense would be 'excellent springboard' for him to run in 2028," CBS Miami, December 5, 2024.
- "Trump leans in on a major 2026 issue: possibly replacing Justices Alito and Thomas," CNN, April 16, 2026.
- Jan Crawford, "Justice Samuel Alito NOT retiring," CBS News, April 17, 2026.