DeSantis Says Trump Humiliating Him Repeatedly Is a Good Thing, Actually

Ron DeSantis’ bid to unseat Donald Trump atop the Republican Party hasn’t been going well. The Florida governor had to “reboot” his campaign last week, firing a third of his staff. It’s been so bad, however, that donors want him to take it a step further and “clean house,” as Rolling Stone reported on Sunday. “A top-to-bottom makeover and real accountability may be the only thing that saves Ron DeSantis,” said one source.

DeSantis has largely denied he’s in trouble, calling the idea a false media narrative while brushing off attacks from Trump. He even argued on Sunday that the former president mocking him relentlessly is actually good for his campaign, despite the fact that his campaign has been steadily tanking amid the former president’s flurry of insults.

“When he hits me with the juvenile insults, I think that helps me,” he said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire. “I don’t think voters like that. I think they look at it, and they realize that’s not effective, and so I don’t think it’s effective, so I don’t mind it at all. I think it’s just a reminder why there are so many millions of voters who will never vote for him going forward.”

There may be millions of voters who will never vote for Trump, but DeSantis’ problem is that there seem to be many more millions of voters who will never vote for him. His poll numbers have been sinking, with a New York Times/Siena College survey published Monday showing Trump leading DeSantis by a whopping 37 percentage points.

Trump has been hitting DeSantis in interviews, at rallies, and on Truth Social throughout his campaign. He’s mocked him as “DeSanctimonious” and “DeSanctus,” often telling a story of how DeSantis came to him crying as he begged for Trump to endorse his 2018 gubernatorial run. Trump has also highlighted DeSantis’ failing as a retail politician, most recently by posting a video Sunday night of an uncomfortable DeSantis drinking a beer at an event. “AWKWARD!” Trump wrote in the caption.

Trump also mocked DeSantis at length during a rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend. “DeSanctus is gone, DeSanctus is gone,” he crowed. “He’s just about over. I think if he ever made a comeback, it’d be the greatest comeback in political history. He’s gone.”

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