This is getting interesting. Earlier this week, former president Donald Trump took a not-so-veiled shot at Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
The Florida governor’s press team had turned away questions about whether DeSantis had received a Covid-19 vaccine booster shot, saying it was a private medical decision.
In an interview Trump referred to it: “I watched a couple of politicians be interviewed and one of the questions was, ‘Did you get the booster?’ because they had the vaccine. . . . They’re answering like, in other words, the answer is ‘yes,’ but they don’t want to say it, because they’re gutless.”
Now, DeSantis has responded in kind on an episode of the Ruthless podcast that was just released.
DeSantis says one of his biggest regrets was not speaking out “louder” on Trump admin calls for lock down during the pandemic. “And I think it knowing now what I know, then if if that was a threat earlier, I would have been much louder.” About 32 mins in: https://t.co/HaR1MOfHWY
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 14, 2022
I think both men would prefer to avoid a direct confrontation right now, but this is an interesting matchup. Trump still has the instincts and comedic chops to harm just about any Republican’s political fortunes. But since Trump’s defeat, if not earlier, ending Covid restrictions has become the most important issue for Republicans — touching the economic issues facing small businesses, school closures, mask and vaccine mandates. And DeSantis has been their de facto national leader on this issue, while Trump is sending out incomprehensible press releases about evidence of fraud.