On Thursday night, shortly after the news of the former president donald trumpThe next indictment and arrest broke out, the governor of Florida. ron desantis (R) defended his likely future presidential rival, insisting the charge was “un-American.”
On Friday morning, a Trump-affiliated super PAC began airing ads worth at least $1.2 million attacking DeSantis for supporting past cuts to Medicare and Social Security, insisting that the governor “does not share our values” and “it’s just not ready”. be president”.
The split screen illustrates the problem DeSantis faces as he prepares a possible presidential run against Trump, who remains overwhelmingly popular with the Republican base, even if some Republican voters may harbor concerns about his eligibility, age, or ability to serve just one more term in office. The charge.
Trump is adept at portraying any attack on him as an attack on his supporters at large, which makes any rhetorical attack DeSantis might mount risky. However, he has no qualms about attacking other Republicans, and Republican voters seem to have long relished the former president’s put-downs and, on occasion, rude insults.
Polls indicate that DeSantis and Trump are in a two-man race for the Republican nomination to challenge President Joe Biden, and Trump’s lead over DeSantis has increased in recent weeks. So far, however, the battle between the two has been largely one-sided, a dynamic charge by Trump that he seems to reinforce.
“The militarization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law upside down,” DeSantis wrote on Twitter on Thursday night, never mentioning Trump by name. “The Soros-backed Manhattan district attorney has consistently twisted the law to demean serious crimes and excuse criminal misconduct. However, he is now stretching the law to target a political opponent.
George Soros, a billionaire financier and philanthropist, supported a group that backed Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who brought the charges against Trump, in his 2021 election. Republicans have regularly invoked Soros, who is the target of multiple antisemitic conspiracy theories, in defense of Trump.
He charges against trump They are expected to focus on a payment to Stormy Daniels, a former pornographic actress, to keep quiet about her affair with Trump ahead of the 2016 election, which Trump narrowly won over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
DeSantis went even further, making a likely unnecessary promise to protect Trump from extradition. Trump is expected to turn himself in to prosecutors in New York next week.
“Florida will not assist in an extradition request given the questionable circumstances at hand with this Soros-backed Manhattan prosecutor and his political agenda,” DeSantis said.
ELIJAH NOUVELAGE via Getty Images
DeSantis hasn’t been entirely silent, in particular criticizing Trump over the impeachment earlier this month, saying he doesn’t “know what it takes to pay a porn star money to ensure silence about some kind of alleged affair.”
But that pales in the face of the barrage of insults Trump has hurled at DeSantis in recent months, including calling him a “cookie,” attacking him for supporting ethanol subsidy cuts, a critical issue in the early voting state of Iowa, and repeated attacks against both. his record as governor of Florida and his support for Paul Ryan-type fiscal conservatism, including entitlement cuts, when he was a member of the US House of Representatives.
Fiscal conservatism is the theme of the ad from MAGA, Inc., the Trump-supporting super PAC.
“In Congress, DeSantis voted three separate times to cut Social Security,” says a male narrator in the ad, which is expected to air on Fox News and CNN. “Worse? DeSantis voted to cut Medicare twice.” (The ad refers to DeSantis’ support for non-binding budget resolutions put forward by the Republican Study Committee, a group of hardline conservatives in the House.)
Allies of DeSantis, who is not expected to officially announce a presidential run until after the Florida legislative session ends in May, suggested The New York Times Earlier this week, they would soon try to attack Trump as insufficiently tough on crime, citing Trump’s support for the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform package he signed into law in 2018.
There’s just one problem: DeSantis voted for a version of the same law.
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