Has Ron DeSantis had his “basket of deplorables” moment? Last week during an interview, the Florida governor launched into an admittedly non-wrong rant about how Donald Trump, his state’s most famous resident, has had a deleterious effect on his party. At one point he seemed to call his die-hards “listless vessels” who will only do his bidding. It didn’t go over well with the MAGA crowd, to the point that his campaign has issued a spin-y response.
According to DeSantis press secretary Bryan Griffin, when DeSantis dropped the words “listless vessels,” he meant “Donald Trump and some congressional endorsers,” not the entire MAGA movement, most if not all of whom he wants to coax to his side.
Griffin also slammed the “dishonest media,” even though it wasn’t only journalists who disseminated the quote but Trump cronies like Jason Miller and the big guy’s own campaign.
During the interview, DeSantis laid into “huge Trump supporters” in Congress who he claims have “incredibly liberal left-wing records.” According to him, these lawmakers get MAGA support while others real conservatives stand up to Trump, like Chip Roy, are tarnished as “RINOs.”
“The movement has got to be about what are you trying to achieve on behalf of the American people,” DeSantis said. “And that’s got to be based in principle. Because if you’re not rooted in principle, if all we are is listless vessels that are just supposed to follow whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning, that’s not going to be a durable movement.”
DeSantis’ words were vague enough that they could be interpreted as meaning Trump’s entire base, who have been trained to believe anything he tells them.
In the statement, Griffins argued that “Trump and DC insiders feel he is entitled to your vote.” Meanwhile DeSantis “believes your trust should be earned and has the vision, plan, and record to beat Joe Biden and reverse the decline of our country.”
Griffin ended with a little diss of Trump, saying, “That’s why Ron DeSantis will be showing up on Wednesday night to debate, and Donald Trump will not.”
Of course, if Trump did attend the GOP primary debates, he would probably just be relentlessly mocked by his former pal Chris Christie.
(Via Mediaite)