Trump welcomes ‘Rob’ DeSantis to presidential race

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he wanted to “personally congratulate” Ron DeSantis for formally entering the presidential primary, hours after the Florida governor filed paper work with the Federal Election Commission launching his candidacy.

Posting on the social media platform Truth Social, Trump — known for coining pejorative nicknames of his political opponents — called the governor “Rob DeSanctimonious” and said he hoped his Republican rival would “get the full experience of being attacked by the Marxists, Communists, and the Radical Left Lunatics of our Country.”

“These Lowlifes & Misfits are far worse than the leaders of hostile foreign countries,” the former president wrote. “They must be soundly defeated in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump’s post came less than an hour before DeSantis was set to appear with Twitter owner Elon Musk on the billionaire’s social media platform. The former president has spent most of Wednesday attacking the governor online, recounting — as he often does — his past endorsement of DeSantis’ gubernatorial campaign in 2018 and criticizing him for past positions on entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Trump’s focus Wednesday, however, wasn’t centered only on DeSantis. The presidential candidate also called E. Jean Carroll, who earlier this month won a civil jury verdict determining that Trump has sexually abused her in 1996, a “stalker.” Carroll is reportedly seeking additional damages from the former president when he continued to say publicly, after the civil jury verdict, that she made up the allegations against him.