Ron DeSantis was an obsequious Trump 'sycophant' before he became 'his own brand': journalist

15 November 2022

MAGA conspiracy theorists, Big Lie promoters and far-right election denialists suffered one disappointment after another in the 2022 midterms, including the announcement, on Monday night, November 14, that Democrat Katie Hobbs had defeated Donald Trump devotee Kari Lake in Arizona’s gubernatorial race. Hobbs’ victory followed the defeats of Trump-allied MAGA gubernatorial candidates that included Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania, Tudor Dixon in Michigan, Dan Cox in Maryland and Tim Michels in Wisconsin.

The gubernatorial success stories in 2022 have mostly been a combination of Democrats on one hand and traditional non-MAGA GOP conservatives on the other, including Georgia’s Brian Kemp, Ohio’s Mike DeWine and New Hampshire’s Chris Sununu. But one MAGA governor who enjoyed a landslide reelection victory was Florida’s Ron DeSantis, and he did it without Trump’s help. DeSantis defeated Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, a former Republican and ex-Florida governor, by 19 percent. If a “red tsunami” occurred anywhere on November 8, it was in Florida.

But one Republican who isn’t praising DeSantis is Trump. The former president has been slamming the Florida governor as “Ron DeSanctimonious,” trying to discourage him from running for president in 2024 and insisting that DeSantis would not be where he is today were it not for him.

As Trump sees it, DeSantis is suffering from what could be called the “All About Eve” syndrome. “All About Eve” was a famous 1950 movie in which Broadway star Margo Channing (played by Bette Davis) takes the obscure, struggling actress Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) under her wings and makes her famous only to watch Harrington get a big head, become conceited and arrogant, and forget everything that Channing did to help her. That’s how Trump obviously now views “Ron DeSanctimonious”: as an ungrateful Eve Harrington.

In 2022, DeSantis ran a very Trumpian campaign without Trump. But journalist Michael Daly, in an op-ed published by the Daily Beast on November 14, stresses that there was a time when protégé DeSantis jumped through hoops in his praise of mentor Trump. That time was 2018, when he ran for governor against Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and narrowly won.

“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is now on the outs with Donald Trump,” Daly explains, “but you only need to look back to a campaign ad he made in 2018 to be reminded of what a YUGE, sycophantic fan he was when he was first running for governor. The 30-second ad from August of that year is a bizarre attempt at humor featuring DeSantis’ wife, along with their 21-month-old daughter and 5-month-old son as the ultimate MAGA family.”

As close as that 2018 race was, DeSantis went on to become a MAGA rock star as Florida governor.

“After becoming governor,” Daly recalls, “DeSantis went from pretending to teach his kids MAGA to building his own brand by condemning what ‘woke’ liberals were teaching kids in the state’s schools. He sought to co-opt the border issue by flying migrants from Texas to Florida and on to ‘elite’ Martha’s Vineyard. He weaponized ‘you’re fired’ by removing state attorney Andrew Warren in Tampa for announcing he would not prosecute people who violate state laws regarding abortion and gender-affirming care for minors.”

Daly continues, “As he ran for reelection this year, DeSantis’ wife tweeted a video that is even more bizarre than the MAGA family ad — and not at all humorous. This one goes a giant step beyond Trump’s 2018 declaration that DeSantis is a ‘fighter.’ The lone voice in this one is modeled after the late radio announcer Paul Harvey and sounds like something from on high in a biblical Charlton Heston movie.”

Trump, according to Daly, deeply resents hearing that “DeSantis is the one who should lead the party in the next presidential election.”

“On the Sunday before the election,” Daly observes, “(Trump) made clear that he feared his one-time sycophant was becoming a threat, slipping in a one liner about ‘Ron DeSanctimonious.’ The results at the polls nationwide made the fear a reality, and Trump disparaged DeSantis and claimed that he sent the FBI and federal prosecutors to ensure his slim victory in 2018 — a claim the Justice Department dismissed as just another Trump lie.”

Daly continues, “Some Trump supporters posted the 2018 ad from DeSantis, seeking to mark the MAGA family man as a traitor. In truth, he has simply made himself into a rival brand — one that threatens to outsell Trump.

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