DeSantis to Trump: ‘I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans’
OCALA, Fla. (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to former President Donald Trump’s ‘ReTruth’ of a post claiming the Florida governor is a “groomer,” in reference to a photo from left-wing media outlet MeidasTouch.
The response is one of the most direct ones he’s offered since Trump’s criticism began in late 2022, sparking with the former president’s nickname of the DeSantis being “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
“Governor, former President Trump yesterday made a series of posts on TRUTH Social directed at you some were insinuating that…” a reporter asked. DeSantis chimed in, “I get it, I get you guys want the controversy.”
The reporter asked the governor how his ideas on defamation legislation – promoting a venue of private action for false media reports that harm the reputations of individuals – would relate to posts like Trump’s.
“I have a platform to fight back a lot of these other people that are more little. They don’t necessarily have a platform to fight back,” he replied.
DeSantis said as governor, he would not spend time fighting defamation lawsuits; he also said he does not spend his time “trying to smear other Republicans.”
“And I’d also just say this, I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden. That’s how I spend my time,” DeSantis said. “I don’t spend my time trying to smear other republicans.”
The day prior, before Trump’s ReTruths, DeSantis defended the former president on what he called the “Russian collusion hoax.”
“Well, I think the swan song has been this Russia collusion hoax because they indulged in that for for two years,” DeSantis said to a panel of lawyers and others who said they’re victim of defamation, like Covington Catholic Nicholas Sandmann.
“I mean, it all eventually was debunked and even in real time people were saying this, but they just kept cycling in this. And I think it just raises the question, you know, this obsession with these anonymous sources, where did that come from?” he said.
“It used to be rare that you would do it, I mean, to assassinate someone’s character with anonymous sources would have been a total no-no. Now it’s just kind of like a normal and actually the preferred method of being able to deliver content,” the governor said.
DeSantis has not named Trump directly in response to criticisms, but in January responded to attacks by citing his electoral landslide in 2022.
“I roll out of bed, I have people attacking me from all angles. It’s been happening for many, many years,” DeSantis said.
One criticism Trump pointed to was DeSantis’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
“If you take a crisis situation like COVID, the good thing about it is when you’re an elected executive, you have to make all kinds of decisions. You gotta steer that ship. And the good thing is that the people are able to render a judgment on that whether they reelect you or not,” he said.
“And I’m happy to say, you know, in my case, not only did we win reelection, we won with the highest percentage of the vote that any Republican governor candidate has in the history of the state of Florida.”
DeSantis defeated Democrat Charlie Crist by nearly 20 points.
He pointed to his margin being the “largest raw vote margin” than “any governor candidate” in the history of Florida. The margin was around 1.5 million votes.
“And so what I would just say is – that verdict has been rendered by the people of the state of Florida.”
Earlier in January, DeSantis defended the former president on his handling of classified documents in comparison to President Joe Biden.
DeSantis slammed Biden for going on 60 Minutes late last year saying Trump was “totally irresponsible” in how he handled storing classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
“He said that it was ‘incredibly reckless’ to have classified – he said all this stuff, you know, on 60 Minutes […] Now you find out he had them stashed behind his corvette at his house that Hunter had access to, which is definitely a security risk in my book,” DeSantis said.
“They had all this stuff to say [about Trump], now they’re acting [like] it’s not a big deal. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. You can’t have two different sets of rules based on your political party.“
