Former President Donald Trump (R) launched an attack on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) Thursday evening for the way that the governor handled the coronavirus pandemic.
DeSantis has been widely praised by conservatives, moderates, and even some liberals for the way that he responded to the pandemic as he battled against measures touted by Dr. Anthony Fauci and refused to shut down his state’s economy and public school system. More Americans moved to Florida during the pandemic than moved to any other state as a result of how the state handled the pandemic.
Trump began his statement with a long-winded sentence, saying, “NewsCorp, which is Fox, the Wall Street Journal, and the no longer great New York Post (bring back Col!), is all in for Governor Ron DeSanctimonious, an average REPUBLICAN Governor with great Public Relations, who didn’t have to close up his State, but did, unlike other Republican Governors, whose overall numbers for a Republican, were just average—middle of the pack—including COVID, and who has the advantage of SUNSHINE, where people from badly run States up North would go no matter who the Governor was, just like I did!”
Trump continued by saying that DeSantis was “desperate” in 2017 and that DeSantis “had low approval, bad polls, and no money, but he said that if I would Endorse him, he could win.”
“I also fixed his campaign, which had completely fallen apart,” Trump continued. “I was all in for Ron, and he beat Gillum, but after the Race, when votes were being stolen by the corrupt Election process in Broward County, and Ron was going down ten thousand votes a day, along with now-Senator Rick Scott, I sent in the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys, and the ballot theft immediately ended, just prior to them running out of the votes necessary to win. I stopped his Election from being stolen…”
“And now, Ron DeSanctimonious is playing games!” Trump concluded in his attack on DeSantis. “The Fake News asks him if he’s going to run if President Trump runs, and he says, ‘I’m only focused on the Governor’s race, I’m not looking into the future.’ Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s really not the right answer.”
The backlash to Trump’s remarks was swift and far-reaching:
Intentional or not, DeSantis has stoked Trump from minor annoyance to frothing rage all without speaking a single word against him. https://t.co/IEs8gsWTy3
— Anders Hagstrom (@Hagstrom_Anders) November 11, 2022
No it hasn’t. If Trump is dumb enough to attack the guy EVERY Republican in America is currently happy with, this primary is already over. He’s gonna lose at least half his support to DeSantis overnight. https://t.co/hYiRSN0Scg
— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) November 10, 2022
Phone is blowing up. Even staunch Trump allies are cringing at this rant against DeSantis. https://t.co/5eFwZePvRl
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) November 10, 2022
The “average Republican governor” referred to in the 45th president’s statement has an approval rating of 64% and just won several deep-Democratic counties on Tuesday. If this is a preview of his 2024 primary strategy, it will turn off far more voters than it will bring in. https://t.co/WlbWPtwTWr
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) November 11, 2022
trump crying about desantis right now on truth social makes him look weak af
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) November 10, 2022
For six years we've been hearing how Comey, Mueller, Schiff, Vindman, Biden, Garland etc were going to take Trump down. In the end, he took himself down. https://t.co/PNYr9W2Ctr
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) November 10, 2022
It’s a stupid nickname and a stupid comment and if this is how Trump wants to go he’s going to lose his primary. But he’s a big boy and he can do what he wants. https://t.co/w8unDDizWo
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) November 10, 2022
DeSantis hasn’t attacked Trump a single time. Trump’s attacks on the governor just reek of insecurity. He can’t stand being shown up by a younger man and the future of the Republican Party.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) November 11, 2022
If DeSantis were smart, he would reply with "I prefer candidates that win reelection" and leave it at that. https://t.co/GrqC0dzJ4y
— The Wokest Numbersmuncher (@NumbersMuncher) November 10, 2022
Absolutely pathetic loser shit. https://t.co/7CiEgy5iaE
— David Reaboi, Late Republic Nonsense (@davereaboi) November 10, 2022
Context:
In 2018, with Trump's endorsement, DeSantis won Florida by 32,463 votes
In 2022, without Trump's endorsement, DeSantis won Florida by 1,506,963 votes (and counting) https://t.co/V6CcI8rkkR
— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) November 10, 2022
Lots of insane stuff here but criticizing DeSantis for his handling of the pandemic has got to be the stupidest angle imaginable https://t.co/IrBvSR93Sc
— Kaylee McGhee White (@KayleeDMcGhee) November 10, 2022
This reads like Trump is on drugs. Maybe he is. It would explain a lot. https://t.co/2cHDPv4DHw
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) November 10, 2022
This is a lunatic move https://t.co/IsKvxzkGv4
— Inez Stepman ⚪️🔴⚪️ (@InezFeltscher) November 10, 2022
DeSantis gains nothing from engaging. This isn't 2015, and he isn't Jeb. Conservatives actually like him. And the dynamics are completely different.
— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) November 10, 2022
Only one of these two individuals promoted and gave a platform to Anthony Fauci, and it wasn’t DeSantis https://t.co/S8GX3EchgZ
— Eduardo Neret (@eduneret) November 10, 2022
I’m officially done. This is RINO behavior. This is not caring about this party. This right here. https://t.co/tBcXv8HVUt
— Just Mindy 🐊 (@just_mindy) November 10, 2022
https://t.co/SMUtrjy5tV pic.twitter.com/HDzQqTArdo
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) November 10, 2022
You know what Gov DeSantis is going to do about this? Nothing. He’s going to go straight to GA to help Rs win the Senate. https://t.co/w2WeMH2EZV
— Rebeccah Heinrichs (@RLHeinrichs) November 11, 2022