Republican rivals
Trump mocks DeSantis – and he shoots back
Ron DeSantis (left) and Donald Trump in October 2020 in Florida. Trump now calls the governor “hypocritical Ron”
© Evan Vucci/AP/DPA
Donald Trump has been teasing Ron DeSantis for a long time. Now the ex-president has intensified his attacks on his possible competitor for a Republican presidential nomination. But DeSantis knows how to defend himself.
Donald Trump is preparing: So far it is not even clear whether he will be challenged by Ron DeSantis in the race for the Republican candidacy for the 2024 election. Nevertheless, the ex-president has long since started a mud fight against the governor of Florida. Trump called DeSantis “fat, fake and whiny” to her, told The New York Times writer Maggie Haberman already in October last year to the US broadcaster CNN. And the governor is also apparently blaspheming behind closed doors. DeSantis calls Trump “a TV character and an idiot who has no right to run for President” quoted the renowned “Vanity Fair” author Gabriel Sherman In late September, a former Republican associate.
Donald Trump indirectly accuses Ron DeSantis of grooming
Now Trump has escalated the Zoff with DeSantis with several social media posts. On Tuesday, the 76-year-old shared a meme on his Truth Social platform accusing DeSantis of grooming – the approach of adults to minors for the purpose of sexual abuse – without any evidence whatsoever. It features a photo of DeSantis that appears to be from when he was 23 and a high school teacher in Georgia. In the picture, the then teacher is surrounded by young women, one of whom is holding a brown glass bottle. The shot is captioned with the phrase “Here’s Ron DeSanctimonious teaching high school girls with alcohol” and an emoji vomiting. Ron DeSanctimonious is Trump’s nickname for the governor. Sanctimonious means hypocritical in German.
“That’s not Ron, is it?” Trump mockingly commented on the post he shared. “He would never do such a thing!”
The meme was according to the US broadcaster West Palm Beach TV Originally posted by a Truth Social user named Dong-Chan Lee, whose account describes him as a “staunch paleoconservative who has supported President Donald J. Trump since 2016.”
DeSantis hit back the next day: “I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting Joe Biden,” the governor said, according to US media, at a press conference in Ocala when asked about Trump’s post . “That’s how I spend my time. I don’t spend my time slandering other Republicans.”
Trump’s smack on DeSantis came the same day the governor hinted at a panel that Florida lawmakers should make it easier for people to sue the media for defamation. When asked during the press conference whether his proposed legislation would affect Trump’s posts, DeSantis said his situation as governor is different.
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“I can fight back and people know that every day that I’m governor I’m confronted with defamation, that’s just the nature of things,” said the 44-year-old. “I have a platform to fight back. A lot of these other smaller guys don’t necessarily have a platform to fight back, so with our reforms I really want to empower them.”
DeSantis would be Trump’s toughest competitor
Trump fired a volley of critical posts at DeSantis on Tuesday. He wrote that he would not have backed the governor on his way to office if he had known he had voted against a border security bill when he was a member of the House of Representatives in 2018. “Wow, if I had known that, I would not have supported him (and he would have had to retire, 35 points behind!)” etched the former president.
Trump also criticized DeSantis for advocating the arrests of participants in the January 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol. “What about Antifa & Black Lives Matter, Ron?” the 76-year-old asked the governor on Truth Social, implying without providing any evidence that these progressive movements were criminal.
Trump’s attacks on DeSantis are not without reason. The governor is considered the rising star of Republicans. His re-election last November came with “the highest percentage of votes ever received by a Republican nominee for governor in the history of the State of Florida,” as he never tires of emphasizing himself. Many supporters of the Grand Old Party see him as the “better Trump”. “He’s a smarter version of Trump, he’s far more strategic, and he doesn’t have a hundred lawsuits on his heels,” said one Democratic party strategist.
Yes one Look at the poll numbers could calm Trump down a bit. DeSantis easily outperforms all other possible and actual candidates for the Republican nomination – but not Donald Trump. The ex-president has been far ahead of the governor in almost all polls for weeks. As of now, Trump has his party’s nomination easily in his pocket.
Sources: “The Hills”, CNN, ABC News, “Vanity Fair”, “Tampa Bay Times”, West Palm Beach TV, Real Clear Politics