Donald Trump has continued to launch wave after wave of attacks on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, posting about his 2024 GOP primary rival numerous times in just one day.
Trump wrote or reshared at least 19 Truth Social posts about DeSantis over the course of 24 hours, as the former president ramped up attempts to dismiss any suggestions the Florida Republican should lead the GOP in 2024.
Many of the posts shared by Trump were detailing poll results that show that Trump is the overwhelming favorite to clinch the GOP presidential nomination next year over DeSantis.
One such poll shows that Trump leads DeSantis by 42 points (60-20) in a survey between Republican voters in the first-in-the-nation primary caucus state of Iowa.
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The most recent Truth Social post from Trump is a video showing several examples of DeSantis praising Trump down the years, which Trump shared with the caption: “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump also posted a statement mocking DeSantis over a bizarre claim that the Florida Governor wants people to refer to him by another name, having already changed it from Rob.
“Have you heard that ‘Rob’ DeSanctimonious wants to change his name, again. He is demanding that people call him DeeeSantis, rather than DaSantis,” Trump wrote.
“Actually, I like ‘Da’ better, a nicer flow, so I am happy he is changing it. He gets very upset when people, including reporters, don’t pronounce it correctly. Therefore, he shouldn’t mind, DeSanctimonious?”
Over the last 24 hours, Trump shared a Mediaite article detailing how a Fox News panel consisting of Larry Kudlow, Mark Simone, and Pete Hegseth dismissed DeSantis’ policies and hopes of winning the 2024 election.
Elsewhere, Trump shared details of his upcoming visit to Iowa while hitting out at Desantis over his previous calls to cut social security and Medicare.
“Will be heading to the Great State of Iowa this afternoon for two days. I strongly defended and backed Ethanol, Ron ‘DeSaster’ has ALWAYS been strongly against Ethanol, just like he voted 3 times to cut Social Security (and raise the minimum age to 70!), obliterate MediCare, and charge everyone a National Sales Tax of 23%,” Trump wrote.
Trump and DeSantis were once close allies in the GOP, with the former president endorsing the latter’s original gubernatorial campaign in 2018.
However, Trump fully turned on DeSantis last year amid strong rumors that he would challenge the former president in the Republican 2024 primary, and has spent the past several months mocking and insulting him at every opportunity.
DeSantis, who confirmed he is running for president on May 24, had previously decided against retaliating against Trump’s barrage of insults.
However, DeSantis has since changed gears since he officially became a 2024 candidate, and has started to attack Trump and his time in the White House in interviews and public speaking.
At his first official 2024 campaign speech in Clive, Iowa, on Tuesday, DeSantis make a series of veiled remarks against Trump including declaring that “leadership is not about entertainment,” and that he is the only candidate that can end the GOP’s recent “culture of losing” by defeating Joe Biden in 2024.
Speaking to reports after the speech, DeSantis was more direct in his criticism of Trump, including questioning why the former president has recently been attacking the governor over his response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The former president is now attacking me saying that [former New York governor Andrew] Cuomo did better handling COVID than Florida did,” DeSantis said. “I can tell you this. I could count the number of Republicans in this country on my hands that would rather have lived in New York under Cuomo than lived in Florida in our freedom zone.
“Hell, his whole family moved to Florida under my governorship, are you kidding me?”
DeSantis’ office has been contacted for comment via email.