It appears that Dear Leader is starting to turn on his mini-me:
DONALD TRUMP has been complaining to members and guests at Mar-a-Lago that Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS still hasn’t joined the other 2024 hopefuls in pronouncing that he won’t run for president if Trump runs. One guest suspects that Trump’s gripes are so frequent because he is planting them in hopes that they’ll get back to DeSantis. Trump has told his advisers that DeSantis privately assured him that he won’t run if Trump does, but that’s not enough for the former president — he wants DeSantis to say it in public. Trump has even suggested that DeSantis shouldn’t underestimate his Democratic challenger CHARLIE CRIST, calling him a “killer.”
Now, as DeSantis crisscrosses the country to raise money for his 2022 reelection, Trump aides are starting to feel pressure to pick sides. Trump has made it known that he didn’t appreciate that former White House chief of staff MARK MEADOWS traveled to Beverly Hills for a DeSantis fundraiser in June (also in attendance: Trump pal and casino magnate STEVE WYNN and former Treasury Secretary STEVE MNUCHIN) and then went on to Orange County, where he introduced DeSantis to other deep-pocketed donors. In a statement to Playbook, a spokesperson for Trump called this reporting “fake news.”
I’m trying to picture the grotesque spectacle of Trump, Pompeo, DeSantis and Christie in presidential primary debates in 2024 and I find that it literally makes me ill. I don’t think the new/old Republican avatar of Glenn Youngkin holds water when you think about that, do you?
Trump is right to worry about DeSantis. He’s the favorite new asshole of all the movers and shakers. He’s going to need to nip this in the bud or it could get away from him and some of that cash might just slip through his fingers.