Former president Donald Trump lashed out at Ron DeSantis on Thursday after the New York Post published two covers this week criticizing Trump and lauding the Florida governor.
“NewsCorp, which is Fox, the Wall Street Journal, and the no longer great New York Post (bring back Col!), is all in for Governor Ron DeSanctimonious, an average REPUBLICAN Governor with great Public Relations, who didn’t have to close up his State, but did, unlike other Republican Governors, whose overall numbers for a Republican, were just average — middle of the pack — including COVID, and who has the advantage of SUNSHINE, where people from badly run States up North would go no matter who the Governor was, just like I did!” Trump said in a statement.
NEW: Trump goes postal on DeSantis 👇 pic.twitter.com/WoXM0AEY2S
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 10, 2022
Trump went on to say that his endorsement of DeSantis in 2017 served as a “nuclear weapon” going off, propelling DeSantis to the top of the GOP primary for Florida governor.
“Ron came to me in desperate shape in 2017 — he was politically dead, losing in a landslide to a very good Agriculture Commissioner, Adam Putnam, who was loaded up with cash and great poll numbers. Ron had low approval, bad polls, and no money, but he said that if I would Endorse him, he could win,” Trump said.
He said he later boosted DeSantis past Andrew Gillum, then the “star” of the Democratic Party. Trump said he “fixed” DeSantis’s campaign, “which had completely fallen apart,” by holding two “massive Rallies.”
He went on to claim he stopped DeSantis’s election from being stolen.
“And now, Ron DeSanctimonious is playing games! The Fake News asks him if he’s going to run if President Trump runs, and he says, ‘I’m only focused on the Governor’s race, I’m not looking into the future.’ Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s really not the right answer,” Trump said.
He added that the Murdoch media properties turning on him is “just like 2015 and 2016, a Media Assault (Collusion!)”
The New York Post published a cover featuring Trump portrayed as Humpty Dumpty with the caption: “Don (who couldn’t build a wall) had a great fall — can all the GOP’s men put the party back together again?”
The issue featured commentary from John Podhoretz, who said that “the surest way to lose in these midterms was to be a politician endorsed by Trump,” and blasted Trump for “his desperate need to elevate cringe-inducing boot-lickers while punishing politicians capable of an independent thought.”
One day earlier, the New York Post cover celebrated DeSantis’s huge reelection victory under the headline “DeFuture.” Many other Republican pundits similarly suggested that Trump’s reign over the party had ended and that the Florida governor represents the future of the GOP.
The Wall Street Journal similarly published a rebuke of the former president, and several Fox News personalities appeared to turn on Trump as well, after a number of Trump-backed candidates underperformed in the midterm elections in key House, Senate and gubernatorial races.
“They will keep coming after us, MAGA, but ultimately, we will win,” Trump said on Thursday. “Put America First and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump previously said at a rally on Saturday that he’s polling way above “Ron DeSanctimonious” for the GOP 2024 presidential nomination, taking a shot at DeSantis, who is widely considered a likely 2024 contender.
“Trump at 71, Ron DeSanctimonious at 10 percent, Mike Pence at 7 percent . . . Oh, Mike’s doing better than I thought,” Trump said during a rally in Latrobe, Pa.
Trump said last week that he will make a “very big announcement” on November 15 at Mar-a-Lago. He is expected to announce his 2024 presidential bid.