Donald Trump Jr. said his father has the “charisma of a mortician and the energy that makes Jeb Bush look like an Olympian,” in an apparent mistake while trying to take a shot at Ron DeSantis.
He made the comments during an episode of his podcast, ‘Triggered with Donald Trump Jr., which was broadcast on Thursday via video streaming site Rumble.
DeSantis announced he’s running for the Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday during a Twitter Spaces conversation with Elon Musk that was beset by technical difficulties, sparking widespread mockery. Polling indicates the Florida governor is Trump’s most dangerous rival in the battle for the GOP nomination, though he has fallen back significantly in recent months.
Trump Jr. began his podcast with a monologue attacking DeSantis, branding him “Ron DeStablishment” and claiming he has a “nasally and effeminate” voice.
Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images; Joe Raedle/Getty Images
However Trump Jr. later insulted his own father, using language that appeared to be aimed at DeSantis. He commented: “Trump has the charisma of a mortician and the energy that makes Jeb Bush look like an Olympian, the policies of a D.C. swamp rat.”
A 17-second clip was posted on Twitter by Ron Filipkowski, an independent journalist who claims to monitor “right-wing extremism,” and who suggested he “misreads his script.”
Junior goes on a rant that is supposed to be about Desantis, but he misreads his script:
“Trump has the personality of a mortician, and the energy that makes Jeb Bush look an Olympian.” pic.twitter.com/iOdUbTQLyS
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 25, 2023
Immediately after the remark, Trump Jr. went back to attacking DeSantis by name, commenting: “We’ve seen the flip flops, you can pretend you’re MAGA but Ron still can’t answer what he’d do on Ukraine.”
Newsweek has contacted Donald Trump Jr. for comment via an email sent to the Trump Organization media contact point.
During the episode, Trump Jr. also played a clip from the DeSantis Twitter Spaces discussion, when the audio played static noise after which someone can be heard whispering “now it’s quiet.”
In response to the launch difficulties, which took place when DeSantis was supposed to be speaking with Musk and fellow business magnate David Sacks, “DeSaster” began trending nationally in the U.S.
Trump Jr. referenced this, commenting: “As I said it was a #DeSaster and it took a long time for Elon Musk to apparently figure out what was going on, and it took two charismatic billionaires like Elon Musk and David Sacks to carry DeSantis through this, where he basically read like an op-ed about what he was going to do.”
Speaking after his launch, DeSantis suggested the Twitter Spaces technical difficulties were caused by the level of interest in his announcement.
He said: “We had a huge audience. It was the biggest they’d ever had. It did break the Twitter space. And so we’re really excited with the enthusiasm, but ultimately it’s about the future of our country.”
Donald Trump was sharply critical on his Truth Social website, writing: “Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster.”
The former president also shared a fake AI generated video mocking DeSantis by appearing to show him launching his campaign alongside George Soros, Adolf Hitler and the Devil.