Ron DeSantis hit with an ethics complaint from Trump super PAC The primary pro-Trump super PAC is filing a complaint with the Florida Ethics Commission over what it says is the governor's "shadow presidential campaign." https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/20...it-ethics-complaint-trump-super-pac-rcna74977
It's difficult to see how DeSantis will do well on the primary trail. Not only is he boring, he basically has no social skills. The only hope for his handlers is to keep him away from people - which is the exact opposite of what they want to do in a primary race. 'Like a starving animal': Reports about DeSantis' odd social habits emerge ahead of primary race https://www.rawstory.com/ron-desantis-personality-2659605618/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn't officially entered the Republican presidential primary yet, but some of his supporters are taking steps to work around his lacking social skills. Multiple sources told The Daily Beast the Florida governor struggles with basic social skills, and his allies are working in early primary states to structure events to prevent unexpected interactions between the public and a candidate who is off-putting at best and rude at worst. “He would sit in meetings and eat in front of people, always like a starving animal who has never eaten before,” a former DeSantis staffer told The Daily Beast, “getting sh*t everywhere.” At a Palm Beach donor retreat late last month, an attendee stood up and heckled him as "DeSatan," according to Republican sources, and an Iowa caucus-goer posed for a photo with DeSantis holding a paper snowflake with the word "fascist" carved into it, but even those who wish to smooth the path at events have found staffers have taken on the governor's standoffishness. “Easily the least responsive campaign I’ve ever dealt with,” said one veteran event host in an early primary state. “We invite, invite, invite, ping, ping, ping. We don’t hear anything." DeSantis apparently used bike racks to wall himself off from the public during his Iowa visit, which one New Hampshire ally noticed. “If they want 50 bike racks, we’ll give them 50 bike racks,” said a New Hampshire GOP legislator. Three former staffers described DeSantis as merely "quiet" and prefers a "very small" orbit, but one top New Hampshire Republican said only Newt Gingrich was a bigger "nightmare" to handle. “He’s been tighter in his requests than other candidates,” that Republican said.
Trump is already focused on dragging DeSantis down. Possibly turning the upcoming Republican primary into a complete shiat-show circus. GOP lawmakers cringe over Trump’s effort to destroy DeSantis https://thehill.com/homenews/senate...ringe-over-trumps-effort-to-destroy-desantis/ Senate Republicans are wincing over former President Trump’s early barrage of attacks against his chief rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), fearing they’re seeing a preview of a brutal primary to come that could leave both candidates weakened heading into the general election. GOP lawmakers acknowledge DeSantis needs to show he can take a punch and aren’t shocked Trump would take hard shots at a rival as the campaign heats up. But some are surprised the former president is unloading such a heavy barrage before DeSantis is even in the race, and they worry that getting into a year-long mudslinging battle with Trump isn’t good look for the party heading into 2024. “I winced in 2016 and I’m wincing now,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) when asked about Trump’s hardball tactics. “That’s just because that’s not my style. “I don’t think you’ll ever take the New York style out of Donald Trump. It’s too much to ask, he’s a fully-baked cake,” she said. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who won reelection in 2022 despite casting one of seven Republican votes to convict Trump of an impeachment charge in February of 2021, signaled she’s not happy about the vitriol Trump is already unleashing in the primary. “Why anyone feels it’s necessary as part of a campaign to be nasty and personal is beyond me. It doesn’t have to be. Talk about the issues,” she said. Trump has already settled on a nickname for the Florida governor: Ron DeSanctimonious. Last month he flagged a photo on his social media platform, Truth Social, that allegedly showed DeSantis posing with three young women while drinking an alcoholic beverage when he taught at boarding school 20 years ago. Trump claims that DeSantis cried in front of him while begging for his endorsement in the 2018 Florida gubernatorial primary, when he trailed his rival Adam Putman by double digits. He said this week that he “probably” regrets endorsing DeSantis in the race. “He was dead as a dog; he was a dead politician. He would have been working perhaps for a law firm or doing something else,” Trump told a reporters who traveled with him to Iowa. Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said on Wednesday that he wished Trump would focus on drawing contrasts with Democrats on the issues instead of tearing down fellow Republicans. “That’s his style. If you’re going to be in the arena, you should expect that,” he said of Trump’s personal attacks on DeSantis. “Yes, I would like to keep it focused on the issues. I think there’s plenty to talk about, lots of contrasts you can draw with Democrats. I’d rather [they] keep their fire focused on them instead of each other,” he said. DeSantis has tried to focus on fighting he calls “woke activism” in Florida and getting his agenda through the state legislature but Trump is already aiming the heavy artillery at the governor. A super PAC aligned with Trump, Make America Great Again Inc., on Wednesday filed a complaint against DeSantis with the Florida Commission on Ethics, accusing the governor and his allies of running a “shadow presidential campaign.” Trump’s campaign this month starting buying Facebook ads promoting a picture of DeSantis sitting next to Trump in the Oval Office captioned: “An Apprentice Leaning from the Master” and “Re-elect President Trump in 2024.” Speaking at an event in Davenport, Iowa, Monday, Trump accused DeSantis of wanting to “decimate” Social Security and compared him to Utah Sen. Mitt Romney (R), who voted twice to convict the former president on impeachment charges. He also accused DeSantis of being a Republican in name only and connected him to former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), a Republican leader who for many Trump conservatives embodied the GOP establishment’s leeriness of Trump when he entered the White House in 2017. “You have to remember, Ron was a disciple of Paul Ryan, who is a RINO loser currently destroying FX, and would constantly vote against entitlements,” Trump said in Iowa. “And to be honest with you, Ron reminds me a lot of Mitt Romney.” Some Republicans worry relentless negativity on the campaign trail could wind up turning off swing voters, especially suburban women and college-educated voters. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) tacitly blamed Trump’s influence on the Republican Party’s brand for the disappointing performance of GOP Senate candidates in the 2022 midterm. “Here’s the problem, we underperformed among voters who did not like President Biden’s performance, among independents and among moderate Republicans, who looked at us and concluded [there was] too much chaos, too much negativity and we turned off a lot of these centrist voters,” he told reporters in November. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a councilor to the Senate GOP leadership team, said negative politics tends to backfire in North Carolina, a swing state that Trump carried in 2016 and 2020. He said he “never used it” and “never found it productive” to wield the politics of personal destruction to win a race. “I think it turns off a lot of people that are part of gettable votes for the Republican nominee,” he said. He emphasized he wouldn’t presume to give Trump political advice, but he cautioned that “I don’t think in a purple state like North Carolina it’s the best posture, the best message for suburban voters — the voters that we saw move the other way or not vote in the last election cycle.” Trump’s political strategy appears to be to drive a wedge between DeSantis and working-class and rural conservatives who don’t have college degrees and make up the core of Trump’s base. Some Senate Republicans privately speculate DeSantis will not be able to defeat Trump in next year’s primary unless he can make bigger inroads with rural, evangelical and working-class white voters without college degrees. Recent polls show Trump leading by large margins among this swath of the GOP primary electorate. GOP lawmakers say they expected a bruising race but some of them are marveling over how early the carpet bombing has started. “Whenever you’re going to have a hard-fought primary as opposed as opposed to something that has consensus, there’s going to be injury from the warfare,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). “It looks like it’s getting started very early.”
‘You think I’m crazy?’ Florida GOP sweats Trump vs. DeSantis POLITICO surveyed all 22 members of Congress’ Florida delegation on who they’d support for president. Most of them are wary of answering. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/17/florida-gop-trump-desantis-00087527 Most of Congress’ Sunshine State Republicans have a line ready if you ask whether they prefer Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis: “The next president will be from Florida.” Ask them who that president will be, though, and you rarely get a firm answer. “Oh, wow. You really are trying to get me into a situation here,” Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.) said with a laugh when asked about Trump and DeSantis. Dunn added that while he had “pretty much” made up his mind on who he’d endorse, he plans to keep it secret for now because “I don’t need to make myself a target for a year.” The Florida delegation’s 20 House GOP members are clearly wary of choosing sides between the party’s two heavyweight 2024 contenders, as the former president takes shots at their governor even before he formally enters the race. And it’s not hard to figure out why lawmakers are staying out of it — a wrong decision risks political repercussions. Trump is notorious for his revenge politics, having spent his two post-White House years taking down GOP lawmakers who crossed him by encouraging his base to support their primary opponents. But with his influence in the party on the wane, Florida Republicans are just as acutely aware that they need a strong relationship with their governor. And DeSantis, who’s especially vocal on natural disaster response and home-state projects, has the power to inflict pain over any of his own grudges. Which puts Florida’s House Republicans in quite a bind as they gather for their annual retreat, set to start Sunday in Orlando. First-term Rep. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.) was more succinct than Dunn, calling it “Sophie’s choice” in a reference to the four-decade-old film about a woman forced to kill one of her two children. Another Florida Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly, addressed Don vs. Ron by exclaiming: “Do you think I want to talk about that? You think I’m crazy?” Conversations with every member of Florida’s GOP congressional delegation (excepting Rep. Greg Steube, whose office did not respond to a written request for comment while he recovers after a January fall) point to clear future fractures over which candidate to support. And decision time is quickly approaching, as early polling shows the party primary trending towards a two-way battle between the two Floridians. While Trump hasn’t started pursuing endorsements in the state yet, his level of support on the Hill is still off to a lackluster start. Only two Florida Republicans, Reps. Matt Gaetz and Anna Paulina Luna, have publicly endorsed his 2024 bid since he launched his campaign in November. “Who am I supporting, Governor DeSantis or Trump? Trump,” Luna said without missing a beat. “I love DeSantis. I don’t think anyone will ever be able to compete with him as governor and I’ll be sad to see if he leaves early. I hope he doesn’t, but I love them both.” Others are preparing to hear an endorsement request from Trump. “I think I’ll get a call soon,” said Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), who said he is undecided in the GOP primary and would consider DeSantis. “We will have a nice discussion.” No Florida members have openly endorsed DeSantis, who has not yet announced a campaign. One Republican described DeSantis’ outreach so far as “non-existent.” As Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) put it: “Candidly, he’s not in the race. So members are not gonna put themselves on the line.” But some subtly indicated that they’re leaning toward their state’s governor. “DeSantis is the ideal candidate,” one Florida Republican lawmaker said, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “The most important thing is, Florida will be in the mix,” Bean said. And when pressed about the choice, Bean didn’t explicitly answer, but he praised DeSantis and noted the two of them served “side by side” for four years in the state Senate. DeSantis has close ties with other House members as well. Some are former colleagues in a chamber where he served three terms before winning the governor’s mansion in 2018. Still other Florida GOP lawmakers know him from his own administration; first-term Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), for example, served as his secretary of state. Some Florida GOP members, like Neal and freshman Rep. Cory Mills, say they’ve made up their minds about the presidential race but declined to name their choice. Other Florida Republicans, like Reps. Daniel Webster, Mario Diaz-Balart and Vern Buchanan, indicated they’re waiting to see who else runs. “We’re gonna have to make a choice,” said Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.). “Choices are coming. … I’m open, but I do think it’s a good thing for the state of Florida.” Buchanan declared that “I’m not getting in the middle of that. I want to let things play out, and so many people are going to be involved.” Florida’s House Republicans referred to multiple different strategies to handle the choice ahead, from avoiding the primary to endorsing only after one of their two home-state candidates drops out. But weighing their options also means acknowledging the pros and cons of each man. Some Florida Republicans noted how accessible Trump is and was, not to mention his ability to deliver the resources they needed in their districts when it mattered. While the delegation largely reports a good working relationship with the governor’s staff, other Florida Republicans noted how little DeSantis has personally sought to build relationships with them ahead of a potential run. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who preceded DeSantis in the governor’s mansion, hinted at closed lines of communication with DeSantis in a brief interview, describing a relationship that became bumpy during their transition. “DeSantis doesn’t talk to me, so I don’t know about DeSantis. I talk to Trump. I wish him all the best of luck,” Scott said, noting he hasn’t “historically” endorsed in primary races. Gaetz made it clear that his once strong relationship with DeSantis has fizzled since the former helped the latter win the governor’s mansion. “I have no ill will, but we are not as close as we once were when I was his transition chairman,” Gaetz said.
Cultists choose governor over Trump. Trump is in big trouble with evangelicals in Florida https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2024-2659610694/
Tracking the 2024 Republican Primary: DeSantis' Support Dips, Tying Record Low https://morningconsult.com/2024-gop-primary-election-tracker/
"Ron DeSoros" Trump Shares Anti-Vaxx Post With a New Nickname for DeSantis – And It Involves Republicans’ Boogeyman https://www.mediaite.com/politics/t...santis-and-it-involves-republicans-boogeyman/ Former President Donald Trump may have finally hit upon a new nickname for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Well, not Trump, but someone who posted a video he shared on Truth Social. In a late-night missive against DeSantis on Wednesday, Trump posted a screenshot of a user who referred to the governor as “Ron DeSoros,” in a nod to George Soros, the billionaire donor to liberal causes. Soros is a regular whipping post for conservatives, who say he wields immense power within the Democratic Party and in global affairs. So far, Trump has referred to the governor as “Ron DeSanctimonious,” “Ron DeSanctus,” and, privately, “Meatball Ron,” though he denies this. “This is a Classic,” Trump wrote. “So much for Ron and anti-vax. Besides, he got the vaccine and booster, just doesn’t talk about it. He also closed up Florida, and its beaches.” Trump’s post features a video posted by “Yoshi The Patriot,” who accused DeSantis of using a 100-year-old man as a “Guinea pig” for the Covid vaccine. “Ron DeSoros used a 100 year old WW2 veteran as a Guinea pig on live TV,” Yoshi said of the video, which was clipped from Fox News. “The veteran, Henry Sayler, died 4 months later. But sure, DeSantis would have fired Fauci.” The Fauci remark was a reference to comments by DeSantis this week stating he would have fired Dr. Anthony Fauci, who helped oversee the Trump and Biden administrations’ responses to the pandemic. Sayler died not long after receiving the vaccine, but there is no evidence the two events are related. Also, as the poster noted, he was 100 years old. DeSantis is seen as a likely challenger to Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination and has attempted to outflank him from the right on Covid by distancing himself from lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and even the vaccine itself which was developed via Trump’s Operation Warp Speed. Bizarrely, the former president has seen fit to distance himself from that project.
‘A Bloody Embarrassment’: Newsmax’s Gorka Torches DeSantis Immediately Following His Appearance On the Network https://www.mediaite.com/politics/a...tely-following-his-appearance-on-the-network/
After being told by his top donors that supporting Putin would put an end to their backing -- causing him to flip-flop from a mere "territorial dispute" to "Putin is a war criminal" in record time -- the most important GOP backers are wondering if Ron DeSantis is fit to run for President in 2024. When Ron is not busy hiring neo-Nazi speech writers, supporting his state being used for right-wing extremism, and putting forward a endless stream of horrible bills to drive his political narrative rather than support residents of Florida --- it is not hard to wonder why major donors are wondering if DeSantis is fit to run in 2024. Especially with Trump piling on every day causing Ron to sink to his lowest point in polling. Ron DeSantis' donors and allies question if he's ready for 2024 At a recent gathering of 16 prominent Republicans, a number of DeSantis supporters discussed if he should run against Trump or wait until 2028. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/20...s-donors-allies-question-ready-2024-rcna76246
There we go. This person added that donors who have given to DeSantis over the past year or two are still open to supporting him for president, but they’re also starting to take a look at other potential candidates like Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., as DeSantis has “fumbled” big moments.