Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday continued to troll former President Donald Trump as a cross between the last two Democratic presidents.
On the one hand, the Republican governor invited Trump to bring his teleprompter to the next GOP presidential debate — a reference that called to mind former President Barack Obama’s heavy reliance on the screen that fed him his words.
Speaking to reporters in Iowa, DeSantis noted that Trump in 2023 is not the same candidate who shocked the world in 2016.
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DeSantis said the previous Trump was more ‘free-wheeling” and putting America first. Now, he hauls around a teleprompter and talks mostly about himself, he said.
Trump talking about himself is not “the inspiring message that’s going to be able to win the day with the American people,” DeSantis maintained.
But, he added, “I think he should debate and I’m willing to allow him to bring his teleprompter to the debate, if that’s what he wants to do.”
“He should be on that stage in Miami and in subsequent debates,” said DeSantis.
Meanwhile, on social media, the governor’s rapid response team, DeSantis War Room, kept promoting the “Trump Accident Tracker,” which intends to highlight Trump’s gaffes — a troll that resembles the Washington Free Beacon’s “Senior Moment of the Week” post about President Joe Biden.
The Tracker remained at zero “accident free” days on Wednesday. As DeSantis War Room explained on X (formerly Twitter), “Donald Trump did not make an appearance on the campaign trail yesterday so the Trump Accident Tracker still sits at 0 days accident-free! REMEMBER: Days Trump doesn’t show up to work do not count as accident-free days.”
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But the Tracker seems to have gotten under the skin of the Trump campaign.
According to The Hill on Tuesday, Trump’s campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the Tracker a “weak, b—- move by a dying campaign. They never have an original idea of their own.”
Cheung was referring to the “Kiss of Death” counter that Trump’s campaign started after Jeff Roe, the chief strategist for a DeSantis super PAC, had said the governor’s team had 60 days to turn the race around.
Trump’s troops began predicting DeSantis would be out of the race after 60 days.
Yet Day 60 passed on Tuesday and DeSantis remains very much in the race.
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