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Ron DeSantis thinks Trump is ‘f***ing nuts’ and an ‘idiot’ who has ‘no business’ to run for president again and would attack his competence ‘frontally’ in public if they are 2024 rivals, former staffers of the Florida governor claim
- Ron DeSantis narrowly won Florida governor’s race in 2018 thanks to an endorsement from Donald Trump when DeSantis was a house legislator
- A new report suggests DeSantis has told donors he’s preparing to punch Trump on the border wall and Dr. Anthony Fauci not to be fired in a possible match in 2024
- DeSantis and his aides mock Trump while watching his old performances on Saturday Night Live, an unnamed former staffer reportedly said
- Meanwhile, the report also suggests that DeSantis may have a charisma problem
- “I describe him as someone with the personality of a piece of paper,” said an ex-assistant
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called his former ally Donald Trump an “idiot” and “f***ing nuts,” according to a Tuesday report detailing the popular Republican leader’s recent rise.
DeSantis’ narrow 2018 win over ex-Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum was widely attributed to Trump’s support for his campaign — when DeSantis was a member of the House Freedom Caucus.
Their close relationship broke down as DeSantis’ star grew. For months, neither has been directly named to the other amid rumors of a potential 2024 clash for the White House.
But DeSantis brutally imprisoned Trump privately, according to Vanity Fair. And while he has no objection to presidential speculation so far, the Sunshine State governor has reportedly told donors he would be taking on a Trump challenge “head on.”
“He calls him a TV personality and an idiot who has nothing to do with presidency,” an employee told the outlet.
The report suggests that his plan of attack would be largely focused on showing Trump’s broken promises and empty threats as mere boasting.
An unnamed Republican source recalled telling donors: “[T]the only way to defeat Trump is to attack him head-on. He says he would turn to Trump during a debate and say, “Why didn’t you fire Fauci? You said you’d build the wall, but there’s no wall. Why is that?”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has reportedly told donors that he plans to hammer Trump on unfulfilled promises if the two face each other in a 2024 Republican primary. Those will reportedly include attacks on the border wall. of Trump and for not having fired Dr. Anthony Fauci (pictured together in October 2018)
But even when he represented Florida in the House of Representatives, before Trump’s unforeseen rise as president, the Vanity Fair report claims he mocked the then-president behind his back.
When Trump first ran for president, DeSantis “made more jokes about Donald Trump than anyone I know,” a former aide reportedly said.
“He thought Trump was crazy,” said another.
In 2015, DeSantis and his staff reportedly laughed at Trump’s charges while watching old videos of him on Saturday Night Live.
Trump, who once loved the comedy show’s attention, began to taunt it for its constant and cutting parodies of his political career.
One employee recalled, “[W]he pulled out old SNL videos of Trump doing Domino’s pizza commercials and stood around the computer for 30 minutes to make fun of Trump.”
It came after Trump’s appearance at a Republican Jewish Coalition where he told the public, “I’m a negotiator like you” — which was seen by his critics as an anti-Semitic figure of speech.
Meanwhile, Trump has reportedly branded DeSantis as “disloyal” and a “know-nothing,” while a previous report indicates Trump was joking about the weight of the Florida governor (pictured in July 2018)
“Ron came back to the office and said, ‘I can’t believe Trump said that!’ the staffer recalls.
Neither Trump nor DeSantis have announced concrete plans for 2024, and their silence about each other’s public headlines is telling.
“Trump says he’s overrated, disloyal and a twit,” said one referred to as a “Trump friend.”
An excerpt from Maggie Haberman’s forthcoming book “Confidence Man,” published this weekend in The Atlantic, claimed that Trump had called DeSantis “fat,” “whiny,” and “fake.”
But Tuesday’s report suggests that DeSantis could struggle in one area Trump is known to do well — charisma.
“I describe him as someone with the personality of a piece of paper,” said a former employee of his.
An unnamed Republican reportedly said DeSantis “misses the sociability gene.”
A strategist apparently suggested that DeSantis was not grateful for donors and other support.
“People organize events where donors give him huge sums of money, and he never says thank you,” they said.
Someone who worked for his current office in Tallahassee says, “When you work for Ron, he makes you feel like you’re just lucky to be there.”