Donald Trump's campaign and other Trump world allies are clobbering Ron DeSantis for a remark that they say is eerily familiar to one once made by Hillary Clinton.
DeSantis' comments come from an interview with The Florida Standard, in which the Florida governor says, "If all we are is listless vessels that’s just supposed to follow, you know, whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning, that’s not going to be a durable movement.” The comment was taken as an attack on Trump, who Saturday was complaining about the time and expense of the criminal indictments he's facing.
In fact, Trump's campaign itself has weighed in, Politico reports.
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"The Trump campaign and MAGA world on Saturday blasted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for remarks appearing to label some of the former president’s supporters 'listless vessels,'" the outlet reported. "'DeSantis goes full-blown Hillary and call[s] MAGA supporters ‘Listless Vessels,’ Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung wrote on X, referring to a DeSantis interview with The Florida Standard in which the GOP presidential candidate stated that a strong conservative movement needed to be based on principles."
A Trump-aligned super PAC also criticized the comment, according to the report.
“'To Hillary Clinton, Trump supporters are ‘deplorables.’ To Ron DeSantis, they are ‘listless vessels.’ The truth is, Trump supporters are patriots,' MAGA, Inc. spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement," it reports. "'DeSantis must immediately apologize for his disgraceful insult.'"
“Looks like Ron DeSanctimonious just had his ‘Basket of Deplorables’ moment,” said Trump adviser Jason Miller, according to the Politico report.
The comparison was made to Clinton because she said during the 2016 election that some of the former president's supporters were motivated by “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic” feelings.
