Donald Trump ‘a Moron Unfit for Office’ According to Ron DeSantis, Who Scares POTUS 45 More Than He’ll Admit
Ron DeSantis Privately Believes Donald Trump is a “moron, unfit for office.” Trump doesn’t like DeSantis either. But DeSantis and
Ellie Mason
Ron DeSantis Privately Believes Donald Trump is a “moron, unfit for office.” Trump doesn’t like DeSantis either.
But DeSantis and his potential for a popular 2024 run scares the former POTUS more than he’ll publicly admit – but it’s starting to show.
Donald Trump is Worried About DeSantis Even If he Pretends Not to Be
Right now, Trump believes he needs to run for President in 2024. Whether or not he wants to run is almost irrelevant.
To shield him from multiple criminal investigations and lawsuits, the former President feels that his best chance is a run and win in 2024.
Over his shoulder looms the specter of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a popular up-and-comer in the Republican party who is getting traditional conservatives amped up for 2024.
Last night, DeSantis sat for a debate with his rival for Florida governor, Charlie Crist.
Crist is a complicated figure – a one-term Florida governor himself, Crist once belonged to the Republican party but has since changed his allegiance and is running as a Democrat.
During one particularly pivotal moment in the debate, Crist turned to DeSantis and challenged him to answer whether or not he’d leave Florida halfway through his next term to focus on a federal race – such as a run for President.
Crist said, “Why don’t you look in the eyes of the people of the state of Florida and say to them if you’re reelected, you will serve a full four-year term as governor? Yes or no?”
DeSantis, trying to ignore his opponent, said nothing. Crist responded, ““It’s not a tough question. It’s a fair question. He won’t tell you.”
Later, DeSantis circled back to finally give an answer, “I know that Charlie’s interested in talking about 2024, in Joe Biden. But I just want to make things very, very clear. The only worn out old donkey I’m looking to put out to pasture is Charlie Crist.”
But it was a bit of a non-answer, not directly addressing whether or not he will run in 2024 – despite his attempt at a joke.
DeSantis Looms Large in Early 2024 Field
And it’s exactly this uncertainty that has Donald Trump losing sleep.
Of all the potential rivals for the Republican nomination, DeSantis has the greatest advantage. Voters are unenthusiastic about former VP Mike Pence, and other candidates such as Senator Ted Cruz are extraordinarily unpopular even among conservatives.
So DeSantis has the best chance of wresting the nomination away from Trump, and he’s refusing to show his hand any sooner than absolute necessary – causing Trump no end of headaches.
Publicly, both Trump and DeSantis have refused to trade open barbs. Privately is another matter. According to those close to him, DeSantis has called Trump a “moron unfit for office” and Trump has blasted DeSantis as “fat” and “whiny.”
But it was a political endorsement that may have finally pushed the two men’s feud into the public realm.
Joe O’Dea, the Republican challenger to Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.), went on CNN earlier this month and said, “I don’t think Donald Trump should run again,” O’Dea responded. “I’m going to actively campaign against Donald Trump and make sure that we have got four or five really great Republicans right now.” O’Dea mentioned multiple Republican options, including DeSantis. “I’m going to do my job as a U.S. senator to make sure that they have good campaigns in the primary here, so we have a good selection of candidates for 2024.”
Trump of course took to Truth Social and wrote about O’Dea, “MAGA doesn’t Vote for stupid people with big mouths.”
Then came the unexpected volley from Florida. A commercial using an audio recording sent to O’Dea that said, “This is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. America needs strong leadership and desperately. That’s why I’m endorsing Joe O’Dea for U.S. Senate. Colorado, please vote for Joe O’Dea.”
Trump has called DeSantis’s endorsement of O’Dea, “A BIG MISTAKE.”
The Washington Post reports, “By endorsing O’Dea … DeSantis is planting his own flag. How often do Senate candidates in the Mountain West seek the endorsement of a Florida governor anyway? That DeSantis’s endorsement is seen as valuable at all is a measure of his own hold on the Republican electorate. It’s also important to recognize that part of what O’Dea wants to do is reinforce his bona fides to Trump-supporting Coloradans, a group that overlaps with DeSantis-supporting ones. There’s an advantage in serving as someone’s shadow: You can be mistaken for the real thing.
It will be hard to measure whose pull on Colorado Republican voters is stronger, DeSantis’s or Trump’s. But that they’re pulling in different directions is a new development in their beneath-the-surface jockeying for 2024.”
Trump has already publicly warned his former cabinet members, such as Pence and Mike Pompeo, away from running in 2024 – calling it potentially “disloyal,” which is close to an open threat in MAGA land.
But whether or not he can intimidate DeSantis away from running remains to be seen, and the smart bet is against it. DeSantis doesn’t back down from a fight. After all, he took on Disney – and kinda won.