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November 7, 2022

Trump did not insult Ron DeSantis, it was merely a joke

By Rajan Laad

Since Donald Trump became a force to reckon with in the Republican Party there have been innumerable attempts by the Democrats and their propaganda wing,  i.e. the mainstream media,  to destroy him.

The narrative they tried to push was that Trump is a fraud, insane, senile, crazy, stupid, immoral, and traitorous.

They concocted and pushed the Trump-Russia collusion hoax. There were two baseless impeachments and myriad investigations into Trump's businesses.

At every point, the media amplified Democrat talking points or falsified claims of their own.

On occasions they resorted to petty ploys such as attempting to instigate a feud between their two primary adversaries President Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

When Trump criticized politicians' reticence to admit they took the vaccine the media characterized this as a veiled attack on DeSantis.

When DeSantis expressed regret for not standing up to the federal COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, the media called it a veiled dig against Trump.

Media "sources" claimed President Trump had privately called DeSantis "dull" with no realistic chance of beating him in a potential 2024 showdown.  

The New York Times and the Daily Beast then declared war between Trump and DeSantis for the GOP nomination.

The Washington Post attempted to pit DeSantis against Trump in a piece replete with wishful thinking, conjecture, falsehoods, and obviously "sources."

Last month, DeSantis endorsed Colorado Senate Candidate Joe O'Dea and recorded an automated phone call for the campaign, saying "I've watched Joe from a distance. And I'm impressed."  

O’Dea is vehemently against Trump. He said that Trump should not run in 2024. 

O'Dea engaged in false equivalence by going on CNN and saying “another Biden or  Trump election will tear this country apart." He supported DeSantis, Scott, Pompeo or Haley instead. O’Dea also told CNN that Trump should have done more to prevent the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Yet DeSantis endorsed O’Dea and said he was ‘impressed’.

Was it because O’Dea is a Republican and every GOP senator is important if the GOP has to take back the Senate?

Was it because a Republican irrespective of being anti-Trump will always be better than a Democrat?

Was it DeSantis firing a shot towards Trump?

Trump called DeSantis's endorsement a mistake.

Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump was reading out his poll numbers within the GOP and referred to DeSantis as DeSantimonious; he also mocked Mike Pence, but few caught that.

This media reacted with glee.

The NYT claimed that “Trump-DeSantis Rift Grows, With Dueling Rallies and Name-Calling,” CNN claimed, “Trump criticizes DeSantis with new nickname at rally,” Rolling Stone claimed, “Trump Mocks Ron DeSantis During Lie-Filled Pennsylvania Rally,” The Telegraph claimed, “Donald Trump opens new rift, calling 2024 Republican rival 'Ron DeSanctimonious.'”

Surprisingly even conservative media reacted similarly.

Fox News claimed that conservatives turned on Trump for attacking DeSantis.

Matt Walsh called it a public attack:

Ron Dreher called Trump an idiot, which was part of the headline of Fox News's piece:

AT’s Thomas Lifson called it a “mistake” to violate Reagan’s 11th commandment.

Many other influential conservatives also weighed in against Trump.

One among them wished Trump had waited till the mid-terms ended.

Another called it a case for Trump not being the nominee:

Another even compared Trump to Liz Cheney:

There was more outrage:

Some asked Trump to stop:

 

Chip Roy displayed his shortcomings in comedy:

So was this really an attack on DeSantis? Before we answer that, let’s look at Trump's record as a campaigner.

Trump has the instincts of a showman and is often more hilarious than professional comedians. This is one of the reasons that he rose so quickly in the polls -- his ability to connect to people via his humor.

Two years ago at CPAC, Trump made a demonstration of those comedic gifts. After mocking Bloomberg for spending hundreds of millions of dollars on his presidential run yielding nothing, Trump derided Bloomberg for looking helpless after being attacked by Senator Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren. The crowd applauded and cheered.

At that time Trump’s comedic instincts prompted him to take it one step further and crouched behind a podium to mock Michael Bloomberg’s diminutive stature. The reaction was stupendous.

Trump even joked while pardoning a turkey for Thanksgiving, comparing it to his phony impeachment:

Trump even joked at his own expense, referring to his bald spot:

There are copious other instances where Trump has joked at his own expense.

We know that liberals are sensitive snowflakes who often can’t take a joke and engage in overstatement.  But we expected more from conservatives.

Back to the question about if this was an attack on Ron DeSantis?

If Trump wanted to attack Ron DeSantis, he would have called him Non DeSantis for his lack of personal charisma or Yawn De Santis for being a not-so-lively public speaker, or Vain DeSantis for starring in a Top Gun-style campaign advert.

But this was just a joke, one that probably occurred to him on the spot while reading his glowing poll numbers.  The crowd seemed to understand that too; there were boos.

What about the claim that this is a needless attack just 3 days prior to the mid-terms?  DeSantis is leading his Democrat rival Charlie Crist by dual digits in almost every poll.  The Real Clear Politics average of all polls has DeSantis leading Crist by 11.5 points. If this were a very close race, perhaps a joke would have been considered unnecessary.  A little joke by Trump is not going to hurt his electoral prospects.

What about the argument that Trump’s “attack” provided the media with a distraction?  The media is always looking for a distraction, if it weren’t for this joke, it would have been about comparing the GOP with the Nazi party or calling MAGA Republicans extremists.

What about those saying that Trump should have waited till after the midterms? 

The Democrats are responsible for high inflation, high fuel prices, open borders causing the drug crisis, high crime, demonizing the police, supporting foreign wars while people at home struggle, politicizing government agencies and so much more.

Does anybody really think that a Republican voter will change his vote after listening to a joke?

Was Trump pilot-testing his insult to see how the base reacts?

It is impossible to tell the motives behind what he says, but looking at his past, we can deduce that it was a joke, perhaps because there may be an element of truth in it.  DeSantis has been a very effective governor who has stood against the Democrat establishment.  But he does carry himself with an air of sanctimoniousness. This isn’t the blatant and revolting self-righteousness of the Democrats, but there is that slight smugness in his presentation. Some people do have that tendency for that, it doesn’t make them bad or less capable.

Let’s look beyond the joke.

Just nine days ago, Trump called DeSantis a “nice man.” Just yesterday, Trump endorsed DeSantis:

Hopefully, this should end all chatter about Trump insulting DeSantis.

Everyone, including some conservatives, needs to relax and treat a joke for what it is. 

You either laugh or move on.

Photo credit: Twitter video screengrab

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