It’s not just politics. It’s personal.
The onslaught of attack ads, peckish social media posts and reprimanded speeches are proof that former President Trump isn’t just bashing a political rival. He is punishing Governor Ron DeSantis for his perceived betrayal.
Trump has pretty much said it himself.
“Look, I’m loyal,” Trump said in a March speech in which he re-enacted how DeSantis asked for his support in Florida’s 2018 gubernatorial race and how that support was instrumental in DeSantis winning. “So he gets the nomination because of you. He wins the election because of you. Two years later, the fake news is up there saying, ‘Are you going to run against the president? Are you going to run?’ And he says, ‘I have no comment.’ I say this should not happen.”
What has followed has been a series of strongly-worded, stinging-image attack ads aimed singularly at his former political apprentice as he saves, or ignores, a real rival, the former South Carolina governor and ambassador of the United States Nikki Haley, also considered a rebel by many of the Trump faithful.
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From eating pudding to ‘You’re fired’: Trump ads target DeSantis
One site ridiculed the governor for eating chocolate pudding by scooping it out of a container with his fingers. The governor has said he doesn’t remember ever doing it, at least as an adult, but the ad attacked the idea in a way that one staunch Trump critic said was “creepy.”
An even more blistering commercial hit directly at the governor’s sworn loyalty.
He noted how Trump’s endorsement “saved” DeSantis politically in that 2018 gubernatorial campaign and showed a clip of the governor thanking Trump for “standing by me when it wasn’t necessarily the right thing to do.”
“Instead of being grateful, DeSantis is now attacking the man who saved his career,” the ad continues. “It’s time for DeSantis to remember how he got to where he is.”
It then concludes with a clip from a 2018 DeSantis campaign ad in which the GOP gubernatorial candidate quoted Trump’s signature line from his TV show The Apprentice. “Then Mr. Trump said, ‘You’re fired,'” DeSantis said in the ad. “I love that part.”
The ad ended by firing off this zinger: “The truth is, there’s only one man who can make America great again.”
Trump’s biting ads only aimed at DeSantis. Why is he the greatest rival? Or is it personal?
The ads aren’t the only reason Trump, who was impeached and acquitted twice and then impeached in March, has surged to a double-digit lead over not-yet-candidate DeSantis in poll after poll. A CBS News-YouGov poll of Republican primary voters released May 1 found Trump with a 36-point lead over DeSantis, 58 percent to 22 percent.
Trump World orbiters say the “personal” nature of Trump’s attacks is intentional and unmistakable.
“He got elected because of Donald Trump,” said Mike Lindell, founder of the company MyPillow and a regular at Trump’s political events at Mar-a-Lago. “He was like, way down. He was a nobody and because Donald Trump believes in the guy, that’s how he got elected. And then DeSantis turns on him.”
Longtime Trump political strategist and adviser Roger Stone acknowledged that the attacks on DeSantis ran deeper than, say, those of former rivals such as U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and former Governor Jeb Bush.
Stone said it’s a “fair statement” to say Trump has taken DeSantis’ actions as a personal affront.
Stone echoed the former president’s sentiments that his “endorsement catapulted” DeSantis to the GOP gubernatorial nomination five years ago. He recalls how Trump, in the midst of a hotly contested midterm battle for control of the Capitol, still came to Florida “three times in the last two weeks of the 2018 election” to push DeSantis to what was ultimately a narrow victory of 33,000 votes over Democrat Andrew. Gillum.
Stone has been one of the governor’s harshest critics since speculation about a possible DeSantis run for the White House began swirling. In a viral video from a year ago, Stone told Trump to “look at DeSantis” before calling the governor profanity. In 2021, he threatened to run against DeSantis in last year’s gubernatorial election if the governor did not abandon his 2024 ambitions.
“Donald Trump played no initial role in getting Marco Rubio into the United States Senate,” Stone said. “In all honesty, Ron would be, if I had to make a smart comment, I’d say he’d be running a McDonald’s right now if he wasn’t governor.”
The Lincoln Project, which knows a thing or two about political ads, isn’t surprised by Trump’s attacks on DeSantis
The ferocity of the attack on DeSantis should surprise no one, said a leader of the group that made a name for itself airing television and online bite-sized ads targeting Trump.
Rick Wilson, a former Tallahassee-based GOP political strategist and founder of the Lincoln Project, said he can see why “Trump feels betrayed by DeSantis” and concedes that “the former president’s anger with DeSantis is justified in this particular point”. But Wilson said no one should be surprised by the level of vitriol in the personal attacks.
“Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump? This show was only ever going to end one way, and that was blood,” Wilson said. “It was never going to be a peaceful transition of power between these two guys. There was never going to be a day when Donald Trump woke up and said, ‘You know, I think I’m going to let DeSantis get away with this.’ things.’ It would never happen.”
Founded in late 2019 by former Republicans and so-called “Never Trumpers,” the Lincoln Project’s anti-Trump ads were a staple of the 2020 presidential campaign.
Since then, the group has expanded its topics to include support for Ukraine in its fight with Russia, as well as other issues. His ads have won numerous “Pollie Awards” presented by the American Association of Policy Consultants (AAPC) as well as the “Webby Awards” of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
Wilson said the ads from Make America Great Again Inc. pitched to DeSantis are “good ads for his audience, the grumpy MAGA types” who will be critical in the GOP primaries next year.
“I like to think I do some pretty good ads,” Wilson added, saying Trump’s ads were “effective, but they weren’t politically classy. The pudding kind of sparks you.”
There has been a changing of the guard among Trump’s political advisers, the expert says
However, he advises other Republicans and Democrats to look beyond the ads and be prepared.
Wilson said there has been a changing of the guard among Trump’s political advisers. He said Trump’s inner circle, which includes veterans such as Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, are top political strategists and that the former president appears to have traded in his chaotic style for a much more “disciplined and focused” campaign.
“All the clowns have gotten off the train and they have serious people there,” Wilson said. “I take them seriously because they are the kind of people we were when we were in the Republican Party. Serious people who work hard.”
Trump’s team understands how to define opponents early on when they are relatively unknown politically, Wilson said. They’ve also managed to keep their candidate focused, and that’s evident in getting nearly a dozen endorsements from Florida’s congressional Republicans, which shows he’s “getting the job done this time.”
“He’s setting the days and hours,” Wilson said, adding, “It’s not going to be pretty for DeSantis.”
Is the Trump-DeSantis alliance irrevocably broken? Maybe not so.
Some who have supported Trump for years caution against reading too much into the Trump-DeSantis feud.
“I don’t think it’s personal. I think it’s political,” said Joe Budd, founder of the Club 47 Trump fan club. “Trump sees DeSantis as his number one competitor for the Republican nomination. So it’s political. I really don’t think it’s personal. Trump can say a lot of things that might sound personal, but they’re purely political.”
Budd, who last year was the GOP nominee in a congressional district that includes Palm Beach County, said the seemingly personal nature of the attacks on the governor are not “beneficial” and that even those who give Trump support they don’t care. But Budd insists the goal is to win.
“He’s purely political. He sees DeSantis as his number one challenger, and, you know, he’s trying to take DeSantis down, that’s all,” Budd said, adding that he is neutral in the feud between Trump and DeSantis.
Even Stone, who has had harsh words for the governor, isn’t saying he thinks Trump will hold a grudge forever.
“Trump has a long history of reconciling with people he breaks with,” Stone said. “So it’s impossible to say what the future holds.”
Palm Beach Post reporter Stephany Matat contributed to this story.
Antonio Fins is the politics and business editor at the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida network. You can contact him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
