Former President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to launch an attack on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis whom he dubbed a “RINO globalist.”
The incident began Tuesday night when Trump posted a nearly five-year-old video of DeSantis discussing how he would like to be a leader akin to then-GOP congressional leader Paul Ryan. Ryan is unpopular in conservative circles and especially with the former president. In November 2022, Ryan called himself a “never-again-Trumper,” saying he wanted to “win” and didn’t see a second Trump term in the cards.
Trump posted the video with the simple caption: “WOW!”
DeSantis was asked Tuesday evening how he felt about Trump’s comments regarding his loyalty, and the governor’s answer was a masterclass in how to handle such situations.
“I roll out of bed, I have people attacking me from all angles. It’s been happening for many, many years. And if you look at the good thing about it, though, is like if you take a crisis situation like COVID, you know, the good thing about it is when you’re an elected executive, you have to make all kinds of decisions. You got to steer that ship. And the good thing is, is that the people are able to render a judgment on that, whether they reelect you or not,” the governor explained. “And I’m happy to say, you know, in my case, not only did we win reelection, we won with the highest percentage of the vote that any Republican governor candidate has in the history of the state of Florida.”
“We won by the largest raw vote margin over 1.5 million votes than any governor candidate has ever had in Florida history. And in fact, we almost doubled the previous record, which I think was like 780,000 vote margin. And so what I would just say is that verdict has been rendered by the people of the state of Florida,” he continued.
This statement only served to fuel Trump’s fire, prompting him to hit back.
“Remember, I was 233-20 in the Midterms, and got 1.2 Million Votes MORE than Ron DeSanctimonious in the Great State of Florida. Also, 12 Million MORE Votes in 2020 than in 2016, and Won!”
He then responded to a Truth Social user who claimed Trump “will destroy” DeSantis if they are to go up against each other in the presidential primary.
“Thank you. The real Ron is a RINO GLOBALIST, who closed quickly down Florida and even its beaches,” he said. “Loved the Vaccines and wasted big money on ‘Testing.’ How quickly people forget!”
He went on to “reTruth” many disparaging comments about DeSantis and Ryan, as well as posting an article about Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., declaring his undying support for Trump.
It’s not clear whether DeSantis will throw his hat in the ring for 2024, or will maintain his current position at the helm of Florida.
