Former President Donald Trump took to social media on Wednesday to chide popular Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a fellow Republican and potential 2024 rival.
"The real Ron is a RINO GLOBALIST, who closed quickly down Florida and even its beaches," Trump posted on Truth Social. "Loved the Vaccines and wasted big money on 'Testing.' How quickly people forget!"
RINO (Republican in Name Only) is a term often used by Trump to disparage Republicans with whom he disagrees.
Trump has lashed out at DeSantis repeatedly as Trump's 2024 presidential campaign gains momentum since launching just after the November midterm elections.
Trump on Saturday accused DeSantis of "trying to rewrite history" regarding his response to COVID-19, and said if DeSantis launched a presidential campaign, it would be "a great act of disloyalty," according to The Hill.
"If he runs, that's fine," Trump said after weekend campaign stops in New Hampshire and South Carolina. "I'm way up in the polls. He's going to have to do what he wants to do, but he may run. I do think it would be a great act of disloyalty because I got him in. He had no chance. His political life was over."
Trump endorsed DeSantis' gubernatorial run in 2018 and has frequently taken credit for the DeSantis' win.
DeSantis has generally refused to respond to Trump's attacks.
"I roll out of bed – I have people attacking me from all angles," DeSantis said at a Tuesday press conference. "It's been happening for many, many years."
DeSantis did, however, address the shots at his COVID-19 record.
"When you're an elected executive, you have to make all kinds of decisions," DeSantis said. "You got to steer that ship. And the good thing is, is that the people are able to render a judgment on that — whether they reelect you or not.
"And I'm happy to say, 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."
Longtime Republican strategist David Carney told Fox News that "Trump's style is to fight and anybody who pokes their head up, he'll take a swipe at them."
Carney, a veteran of numerous presidential campaigns, said DeSantis' response on Tuesday "was a clever way to deflect the issue. ... A charge made that's not responded to becomes more difficult to respond to down the road. That's always been the truth."
The recent verbal outbursts appear to be a sign of things to come as the 2024 election cycle gets underway.
"We're going to see a lot of this," Carney predicted. "This is going to be no cakewalk for anybody."
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