If Donald Trump is the GOP presidential nominee in 2024, I’ll enthusiastically support him. But, seriously, what the heck is wrong with him? I get it, he wants to be president again, and he got screwed over in 2020, and it would be great just to see Trump get his revenge. But he’s spent more time and money attacking Ron DeSantis recently than anyone else, and it’s hurting the party.
And the attacks are beyond embarrassing. In fact, Trump is so focused on attacking DeSantis that he doesn’t realize he’s making himself sound like a Democrat in the process. Trump took Disney’s side in its dispute with DeSantis, which is an unexpected stance for a Republican. Trump claimed on Truth Social that Disney may announce a gradual withdrawal or sale of its Florida properties due to the governor’s actions, even though that would never happen. He’s also accused DeSantis of mishandling COVID-19 and of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare, and he’s even trashed how the governor has run Florida.
“Florida has become among the worst states” to “live, find economic opportunity, work, retire, raise a family, pay taxes, be safe, rent a home, have a baby, afford energy, die, be a teacher, be a doctor, [or] be a police officer,” Trump’s campaign said.
Really? Not only did Trump relocate from New York to Florida while DeSantis was in office, he has not expressed any intention of leaving. And Trump isn’t the only person who fled oppressive left-wing-dominated states for the freedom of Florida. The Sunshine State has repeatedly ranked number one in net immigration. Also during DeSantis’s tenure, the Republican Party has experienced a significant surge in registration, growing from being a minority party to overtaking the Democrats and then expanding that advantage. In almost every conceivable way, DeSantis is a bona fide success. Yet, Trump can only trash him and anything connected to him, because he’s terrified of DeSantis jumping into the presidential race.
And DeSantis’s allies are fighting back. On Saturday, a DeSantis-supporting super PAC, Never Back Down, announced that it would provide financial assistance for former President Donald Trump’s move to California, where he would be closer to Gavin Newsom. Trump recently said he could never attack the California governor because he was so nice to him during the pandemic.
“Donald Trump has so deeply disparaged the state of Florida by calling it the ‘worst state,’ we at Never Back Down will help him leave by offering financial assistance to help him move to his beloved California, so he can be close to his good buddy Gavin Newsom, whom he loves so intensely and gets along with so well,” Never Back Down CEO Chris Jankowski said in a statement.
“The good news is that since so many people are moving to the state of Florida, thanks to the incredible success of Governor Ron DeSantis, no one will notice when Trump leaves,” Jankowski added. “The state of Florida will be better off when Trump takes his Soros-fueled, dumpster fire of a campaign to San Francisco, where it will fit right in.”
I take no joy in seeing Trump get owned like this, but he’s only embarrassing himself with his ridiculous attacks on Gov. DeSantis. Just last week, Trump posted a link to an MSNBC piece on Joy Reid’s blog attacking DeSantis.
Trump is not someone who can afford to alienate any more Republicans. I struggle to name someone who served in his administration whom he hasn’t attacked, and I wonder who will be left to serve in his second term at the rate he’s going. Fellow Republicans are not the enemy, and if keeps this up, Trump’s going to find that Republican voters will sour on him.