Donald Trump launched an especially below-the-belt swipe at Ron DeSantis on Monday after the Florida governor gave a somewhat muted response to the possible indictment of the former president.
In reference to the Stormy Daniels hush money case, Mr DeSantis told reporters that he doesn’t know “what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair — I can’t speak to that”.
The governor did accuse “Soros-funded prosecutors” of weaponsing their office “to impose a political agenda on society at the expense of the rule of law and public safety”.
Clearly furious at the lack of support from Mr DeSantis, the former president took to Truth Social, posting: “Ron DeSanctimonious will probably find out about FALSE ACCUSATIONS & FAKE STORIES sometime in the future, as he gets older, wiser, and better known, when he’s unfairly and illegally attacked by a woman, even classmates that are ‘underage’ (or possibly a man!). I’m sure he will want to fight these misfits just like I do!”
The post included a blurry and unverified picture of a man resembling Mr DeSantis allegedly partying with underage girls at a party with alcohol when he taught at a school in Georgia.
The lewd, homophobic attack on the Florida governor initially appeared in shorter form without the attached photo but was deleted.
For a brief moment, it appeared as if the former president had thought better of it before the new longer version appeared.
His campaign then sent the whole post out to the Donald J Trump for President 2024 list of recipients.
Both of Mr Trump’s eldest sons from his first marriage also joined in, attacking Mr DeSantis for saying he would not get involved in a “manufactured circus” and had real issues to deal with.
This prompted Donald Trump Jr to write: “So DeSantis thinks that Dems weaponizing the law to indict President Trump is a ‘manufactured circus’ & isn’t a ‘real issue’."
“Pure weakness,” he added. “Now we know why he was silent all weekend. He’s totally owned by Karl Rove, Paul Ryan & his billionaire donors. 100% Controlled Opposition.”
Eric Trump also chipped in, tweeting: “Until that day where they do the exact same thing to him, his friends and his family… at which time he will neither have the backbone, nor the resources, to fight off the corrupt system. He’s not the guy I [thought] he was…”
Many Trump supporters criticised Mr DeSantis throughout the weekend for not making any comments about what action he would take to ensure Mr Trump, who lives in Palm Beach, would not be extradited to New York were he to be indicted.
