Former Trump advisor now supports DeSantis, says he will be an 'amazing president' while asking 'who would work for Trump???'
Jim Vondruska/Getty Images
- A former Trump advisor is now campaigning with Ron DeSantis and trash-talking his old boss.
- Steve Cortes, once one of Trump's most senior advisors, asked on Twitter: "Who would work for Trump???"
- The political mud fight is starting to get messier as the Republican primary season ramps up.
A former advisor to former President Donald Trump has turned on the former president, throwing his support instead behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — Trump's primary opposition for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
Steve Cortes, a senior advisor on Trump's 2016 and 2020 campaigns, has loudly supported DeSantis since he announced his endorsement in a Newsweek op-ed in May.
"This young leader will be an amazing president," Cortes tweeted on Saturday while campaigning with DeSantis in Nevada.
—Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) June 17, 2023
"Backstage in Nevada with the future First Family!" he said in a later tweet.
He also took some time to drag the former president, who remains the GOP frontrunner in the race for the White House.
"A very serious question: Who would work for Trump???" Cortes tweeted Friday, attaching a screenshot of Trump mocking John Kelly, his former White House chief of staff, on Truth Social. (His question prompted a slew of Blue-check verified Twitter users to reply that they would gladly work for the former president.)
"If he wins, what people of gravity and substance would volunteer to work for his administration, knowing how viciously he's attacked nearly all his former senior staffers?" Cortes continued in his tweet.
Trump's Truth Social tirade against Kelly — he called him "weak and ineffective" — was in response to Kelly's comments that Trump was "scared s---less" of the indictment against him.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 37-page indictment related to this retention of classified documents after his presidency ended.