Donald Trump Goes Wild on Truth Social, Sneering at DeSantis Over Disney Battle
Former President Donald Trump is going wild on Truth Social, posting rapid-fire criticisms of his greatest rival for the GOP
Ivy GriffithFormer President Donald Trump is going wild on Truth Social, posting rapid-fire criticisms of his greatest rival for the GOP nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis appeared on Twitter Spaces alongside controversial business mogul Elon Musk late Wednesday, officially announcing his candidacy for the GOP nomination.
See: DONALD TRUMP’S WORST NIGHTMARE JUST CAME TRUE
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The announcement was beset by technical woes, leading to frustration in the DeSantis camp and gloating among progressives and Trump supporters alike. Trump wrote on Truth, “I know Ron. The way he handled his announcement, he will handle the Country!”
But it was a low blow in a week of setbacks for the former POTUS, and Trump responded to the announcement as one would expect – he was furious.
Today, though, Trump got to work.
On post after post on his social media site over the past few months, Trump has been systematically dismantling DeSantis’ governing record. Today, he sneered at his fight with Disney, and scoffed at the idea that a poorly-polling extremist could take the GOP nomination.
In one Truth Social video, Trump said, “When the Ron DeSanctimonious facts come out, you will see that he is better than most Democrat governors, but very average, at best, compared to Republican governors!”
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Trump pointed out that DeSantis’ home state, Florida, suffered the third most COVID deaths during the pandemic, and blasted the Floridian for locking down beaches in 2020 – something no other Republican governor found necessary. Trump said that he left the choice to shut down or not up to governors, and that while Democrats did not do well, according to Trump, most Republican governors did well – except, of course, DeSantis.
Trump then sneers, “And look at Disney, and what a mess it is. Could’ve worked out an easy settlement, but no. He wanted to show the fake news how tough [of] a guy he is. He’s not, and the whole Disney thing is really very unfortunate. Now thousands and thousands of jobs are being stopped and a lot of people are very upset about it.”
In another video, Trump recalled that “In December of 2017, Ron DeSanctimonious was polling at 5% in the Republican primary for Governor of Florida – 5%. DeSantis had virtually no endorsements, and was being drastically outraised by Agricultural Commissioner, Adam Putnam, the widely-viewed favorite.”
Putnam, Trump recalls, was favored to win by a lot. “Ron had zero chance of winning,” – until, Trump says, he showed up to save the day. He won “because of President Trump,” the former POTUS adds.
No matter the bravado Trump is fronting, it’s clear that he’s anxious about DeSantis’ meteoric rise to the top. While currently, DeSantis’ poll numbers don’t pose much threat to Trump, Trump is facing enough legal and civil peril to be a worrisome bet for many major Republican donors.
The question is: will they tire of Trump’s circus and turn to DeSantis? Or is there someone else they’ll turn to, should the Trump train grind to a halt?
For now, Trump is desperately trying to keep his rival down and keep his own head above water – a task made more difficult now that DeSantis is officially in the race.