Trump trolls DeSantis, sharing old video showing his fawning Trump support as the two emerge as rivals for 2024
REUTERS/Carlos Barria
- Trump targeted DeSantis, highlighting the Florida governor's past over-the-top support for him.
- He shared a 2018 campaign video that showed DeSantis raising his kids as Trump superfans.
- Trump has been targeting DeSantis as the two emerge as rivals for the future of the GOP.
Former President Donald Trump trolled Ron DeSantis over his previous support for him as the two compete for the future of the Republican Party.
Trump shared an old DeSantis campaign video on his Truth Social website, in which DeSantis is described as a "pitbull Trump defender" and takes his support for the president to comical lengths.
Ron DeSantis campaign
The ad, from when DeSantis ran for governor in 2018, shows DeSantis with his family in spoof home videos.
At one point he reads Trump's book, "The Art of the Deal," to his son Mason.
DeSantis reads the words "Then, Mr. Trump said, 'You're fired!' I love that part," to one child, as the words "Pitbull Trump defender" are on the screen.
The video also shows Mason in a "Make America Great Again onesie, and DeSantis reading "Make America Great Again" to his daughter Madison from a Trump campaign sign.
In another vignette he and Madison use blocks to play "Build The Wall."
Ron DeSantis campaign
Trump shared the video on November 15, 2022, some four years after it was aired, with a caption urging people to "never forget" how deferential DeSantis was to Trump. The former president added his own comment, "Thanks, Ron!"
Trump has repeatedly attacked DeSantis in recent weeks, as the former allies emerge as likely election rivals.
Last week he called DeSantis an "average Republican governor with great public relations" and took credit for DeSantis' political rise, saying "Ron came to me in desperate shape in 2017."
A source told The New York Post last week that DeSantis and his team were distancing themselves from Trump. The source said "There is no upside to rolling around in the mud with Trump at this point. Only downside."
DeSantis has not launched a presidential bid, but he one of the leading Republican contenders should he decide to run. One Republican Senator said DeSantis had become the "leader of the Republican party."
Trump, meanwhile, is expected to announce that he is running on Tuesday, teasing a "special announcement" after months of increasingly blatant hints that a declaration is imminent.
But Trump's position was weakened after candidates that he backed performed poorly in the midterm elections.