In a feisty public outburst, former president Donald Trump reignited his ongoing feud with Ron DeSantis during a political rally in Las Vegas, Nev., this past Saturday, July 8. With the 2024 presidential race gathering pace, Trump took the opportunity to lambast his Republican contender, critiquing DeSantis' lack of charisma and questioning his viability as a presidential candidate.
In his fiery speech, Trump compared DeSantis to a doomed cause, saying, "I said, listen Ron, you're so dead that if Abraham Lincoln and George Washington came back from the dead, and if they put their hands and hearts together and prayed … nothing is going to change. Ron, you are gone."
This verbal onslaught didn't end there. Trump characterized the Florida Governor as "highly overrated" and berated him for an alleged lack of character. "Well, he also has no personality. That helps, right?" he asked the crowd rhetorically, punctuating his critique of DeSantis’ alleged shortcomings.
Trump’s denunciation of DeSantis is the latest in a series of attacks against the Florida governor. Previously, he used platforms like Truth Social to chide DeSantis for his tepid rally turnout and even came up with several nicknames such as "Meatball Ron" and "Shutdown Ron."
But DeSantis, 44, wasn’t one to take these allegations lying down. In a sharp retort to Trump's criticism, DeSantis reminded the former president of his past praise for Florida's management under his governance. "Now, all of a sudden, his tune is changing. And I would just tell people, do you find it credible?" DeSantis questioned, dismissing Trump's critique as "frivolous."
Trump's attack on DeSantis comes despite the fact that he claims responsibility for DeSantis' political ascendancy, alleging that his endorsement propelled DeSantis' political career.
These contentious exchanges between Trump and DeSantis signal the heating up of the 2024 presidential race. However, with Trump leading in the primary polls by almost 30 points, despite facing an unprecedented 71 criminal indictments, the race might not be as open as DeSantis hopes.
These indictments against Trump span across issues including hush-money payments, retention of classified records, and more recently, defamation and sexual abuse charges by writer E Jean Carroll. Despite all these charges, Trump's fanbase appears undeterred, with several of his supporters at the rally echoing his unfounded claims of electoral fraud in the 2020 election.