>
Donald Trump slammed the Florida governor as “Ron DeSanctimonious” on Sunday night, marking the end of a weekend that saw the former president go head-to-head with his potential 2024 Republican challenger.
In a couple of posts on his Truth Social app, Trump used the nickname twice when he accused DeSantis of being a “globalist” and having “shut down Florida and its beaches” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
His return to using the nickname is a sign that the former president is ready for all-out political war against his growing rival. DeSantis has not formally declared a run for the White House, but his refusal to rule out one this upcoming election cycle has infuriated Trump.
Trump first launched his ‘Ron DeSanctimonious’ line during a rally in Pennsylvania just three days before the midterm elections, and was immediately criticized by top Republicans for attacking the governor on the eve of his re-election bid. .
He initially backed down and even encouraged people to vote for DeSantis the next day, before steadily ramping up his attacks once more.
Former President Donald Trump is stepping up attacks on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and appears increasingly nervous that the popular Republican leader will launch his own 2024 candidacy.
In the first of two posts Sunday night, Trump gradually praised the media for the press coverage of his first two campaign events, which took place in New Hampshire and then South Carolina on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters on his campaign plane that day, Trump issued a public warning to DeSantis that it would be “unfair” of him to run in 2024.
He wrote on Truth Social hours later: “The revelations that Ron DeSanctimonious was doing MUCH WORSE than many other Republican governors, including the unapologetic closure of Florida and its beaches, were really interesting.”
Trump added, referring to himself in the third person: “DJT leading in a BIG way!”
In the second post, made shortly after midnight Monday, Trump went on a strange tangent against the conservative group Club For Growth, and DeSantis somehow got caught up in the mix.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ refusal to rule out a White House bid thus far has infuriated the former president, who was the first Republican to throw his hat in the ring by 2024.
The influential organization has been at loggerheads with Trump since the 2022 midseason, when it clashed with him in two high-profile Republican Senate primaries in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
He also undermined his November 15 presidential announcement by releasing an early 2024 poll the day before that showed Trump losing to DeSantis.
‘The Club For No Growth is a GLOBALIST group that I have been taking to the cleaners for years. We worked together for a while, but they couldn’t get away from China, Europe, Asia and an unknown party,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in the early hours of Monday morning.
‘They know I won’t play that game, I’m America First all the time. That is the ONLY way we will make America GREAT AGAIN.
“Ron DeSanctimonious, whom I named governor in both the primary and general, is also a globalist, as are his donors.”
He also tried to link DeSantis to Jeb Bush, the former Republican governor of Florida whom Trump soundly defeated for the Republican nomination in 2024, despite the former’s place in one of America’s greatest political dynasties.
Trump officially kicked off his third presidential campaign with stops in the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina on Saturday.
‘When I hear that [DeSantis] might [run] I think it’s very unfair,” he told CNN and Politico on his plane.
In the first of his two Truth Social posts, Trump accused the Florida governor of shutting down his state during the pandemic.
In the second post, Trump also took aim at the conservative group Club For Growth.
Once again, he also took credit for DeSantis’ narrow victory in 2018, which then led to a landslide reelection in 2022.
“Ron wouldn’t have been governor if it wasn’t for me,” Trump said.
Until now, DeSantis has been unwilling to confront Trump in public, a strategy that seemed to have paid off so far.
He has seen his Republican star rise throughout the Biden administration with his vocal opposition to Joe Biden’s progressive policies.
He also made a name for himself with Trump’s MAGA base by wading into the culture wars with LGBTQ-targeted legislation and taking on Critical Race Theory in schools.
But through it all, DeSantis has repeatedly insisted his focus is on Florida, when asked about his 2024 ambitions. Little has been done to calm the uproar, especially among Republicans.
“Obviously, DeSantis and Trump are both candidates, whether he declares himself or not,” New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union show.