Donald Trump is not a man who minces his words. His words may be incoherent, garbled, and inaccurate, but he stands by them. He also vehemently abhors anyone who opposes or criticizes him. So, it goes without saying that right now, Donald Trump is having a go at Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis, once a supporter of Trump, has taken a sharp turn in opposition to Trump since the president’s time out of office. In 2020, he was one of the many state politicians who stood by Trump’s baffling shortcomings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, now that DeSantis has indicated he’s running for president in 2024, he’s begun to criticize Trump’s leadership abilities, thus making him public enemy number one. Trump is doing his best to ensure his fanbase knows that.
In addition to calling DeSantis the immature nickname “DeSanctimonious” and referring to him as “the most overrated politician in America,” Trump tried to take a shot at DeSantis’ numbers on COVID, crime, and education, calling them “terrible.” “Nobody knows it,” he said. “Now they do. He shouldn’t even be running!”
The former president has said a number of damning things before, during, and after his presidency, but the one that comes to mind here as he rambles on about DeSantis’ handling of the COVID-19 pandemic is that itty-bitty suggestion he made to health officials in the White House briefing room in 2020. Of course, we’re talking about “bleach gate.”
“So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that, too. It sounds interesting. And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.”
It makes you wonder how Trump has the gall to criticize anyone when it comes to COVID, but an extensive amount of effort need not be exerted in this regard. This is Trump we’re talking about, after all.
As a matter of principle, it is worth noting that these are two politicians who were both heavily criticized for their lax approach to the pandemic. Although DeSantis declared a state of emergency for Florida in March 2020, he was quickly lambasted for loosening the reins too early and lifting the lockdown, ultimately putting the health of the economy over the health of the people.
With Trump’s indictment and arrest lingering on the horizon, he doesn’t have many straws left to grasp onto. DeSantis just happens to be the closest opponent he can chastise without legal repercussions. It’s not a surprise, really. This twice-impeached former president of the United States has proven again and again that he’ll stop at nothing to make sure he gets the final word.
So we leave you with this: the final Word.