Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis likely is aware of the notable quote by Mark Twain: “Never wrestle with a pig. You’ll both get dirty, and the pig likes it.” Though Trump has already started the mudslinging, DeSantis has chosen to stay above the fray.
Previously, DeSantis referred to Trump’s attacks as “noise in the background.” Trump’s most recent attacks, which included unsubstantiated claims that DeSantis was guilty of grooming underage females with alcohol, did not seem to rattle the governor.
On Wednesday, DeSantis said: “I face defamatory stuff every single day I’ve been governor, that’s just the nature of it. I’d also just say this. I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden.”
The governor, implying there is a better way for Trump to spend his time, added: “That’s how I spend my time. I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.” The audience erupted in cheers.
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Trump continues to assert that the governor, who in November won reelection by a historic 19.4 points, owed his political career to him — asserting that DeSantis “begged him for an endorsement in 2018.
Trump attributes his endorsement to DeSantis’ victory, and has more than once claimed that DeSantis’ campaign was in a “shambles” when they approached him for support. In a jab, Trump noted, “there were tears coming down from his eyes.”
This week, Trump posted a low-resolution photo of a man he alleged was DeSantis standing next to several young women at a party. Trump captioned the photo:
“Here is Ron DeSanctimonious grooming high school girls with alcohol as a teacher.”
Trump added, provocatively: “That’s not Ron, is it? He would never do such a thing!”
The New York Times reported the photo was originally part of an attack ad published by a Democratic super PAC. The article noted the two females were former students who attended a party where DeSantis happened to be and that the party “took place after” they had graduated.
Desperation at truly insane levels, and we’re not even far into February. If you think this bottom-feeder stuff is winning him friends, you need to leave the basement and meet real voters. pic.twitter.com/ivkKWHhsnt
— David Reaboi, Late Republic Nonsense (@davereaboi) February 7, 2023
In addition to referring to DeSantis as “Ron DeSanctimonious” and claiming credit for his political success, Trump has called DeSantis a “globalist” and warned that it would be “very disloyal” if he chose to run for president in 2024.
Trump has also attacked DeSantis on his COVID response even though Florida has led the nation in reversing lockdown orders and resisting Biden administration-pushed mask and vaccine mandates.
And though, at the end of March 2020, Trump called DeSantis a “great governor” who “knows exactly what he’s doing” to respond to the pandemic, in recent months Trump claimed: “Ron DeSanctimonious” did “FAR WORSE than many other Republican governors, including that he unapologetically shut down Florida.”
Last week, DeSantis responded to Trump’s attacks by saying that voters are the ones to render a judgment on how politicians are performing their jobs, saying:
“I roll out of bed; I have people attacking me from all angles. It’s been happening for many, many years,” DeSantis said, adding that “in a crisis situation like COVID, the good thing about it is when you’re an elected executive, you have to make all kinds of decisions, you’ve got to steer that ship.”
DeSantis continued: “And the good thing is, is that the people are able to render a judgment on that, whether they reelect you or not. 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.”
DeSantis added: “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.”
