Gavin Wax, a Donald Trump staffer caught up in a controversy over leaked racist texts from his colleagues, was once a supporter of Ron DeSantis’ presidential ambitions. Despite the scandal, Wax continues his role at the State Department, reportedly maintaining a close bond with Trump, whom he views as a ‘father figure.’ However, his allegiance to Trump hasn’t always been unwavering.

According to a source familiar with Wax’s career, told to the Daily Mail, “Gavin was fully supportive of DeSantis before realizing he could earn more with Trump.” The source mentioned that Wax had penned opinion pieces on the matter but has since largely removed them from the internet. In one such article for American Greatness from March 2021, Wax criticized Trump for giving his son-in-law Jared Kushner significant positions during his first term.

Wax argued at that time that “if the president cannot learn from his most glaring mistake, Jared Kushner, the Republican Party should seek a worthy successor for the MAGA revolution he initiated.” On January 23, 2021, just days after Joe Biden took office as the 46th President, Wax tweeted “DeSantis 2024,” signaling his early support for DeSantis’ potential candidacy.

 ‘He was so quick to flip on Trump in January 2021 after he lost,’ a senior Republican official from New York told Daily Mail. The same official added that Wax’s change of heart was driven by money. He’s friends with Alex [Bruesewitz], who does Trump’s social media. Alex partnered with him. He made so much money from the campaign,’ the source added. ‘He’s not loyal, it’s money, he was the first one to turn on Trump after the 2020 election,’ the individual said.

Wax declined to comment to the Daily Mail about the accusations. By 2023, Wax was all aboard the Trump Train. A then 28-year-old Gavin Wax, a middle-class kid from Queens, sent a cold note to President Trump inviting him to the New York Young Republicans Gala at Cipriani on Wall Street, not expecting anything in return. Trump accepted — launching Wax into the presidential orbit. ‘He came to speak to us, not the party,’ a source close to Wax told the Daily Mail. ‘He sat there at dinner with him, eating steak.’

The two developed what sources describe as a ‘pen-pal’ relationship. Wax’s New York Young Republican Club was the first organization in the country to endorse Trump for re-election. ‘He took a bet on himself. He was a self-promoter, a pull-yourself-up-from-the-bootstraps kind of guy… and well, the President liked that about him,’ a source that used to work closely with the New York Young Republican Club said.

Wax’s political rise began in earnest in 2018 when he led a pro-Trump insurgency to take over the Metropolitan Republican Club, a century-old Upper East Side institution founded by Teddy Roosevelt. ‘He spearheaded the takeover,’ the source says. ‘It was a fierce fight between the pro-Trump faction he led and the anti-Trump establishment. The New York GOP hated him for it because he took away their clubhouse.’