Former President Donald Trump took aim at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the weekend in a post on his social media site, Truth Social. The post is the latest sign of competition between the former president – who continues to publicly flirt with a 2024 run for a second term – and the Republican governor, who is widely seen as Trump’s potential political heir.
“A BIG MISTAKE!” Trump posted, linking to a report that DeSantis endorsed a Republican Senate candidate who recently told CNN he would “actively campaign against” Trump if he ran in 2024.
In the CNN interview, Joe O’Dea, who hopes to unseat Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) in the midterm election, pointed to DeSantis as another prime candidate for president.
Registered Republicans favor DeSantis over Trump to guide the future of the party by a margin of about 8 points, according to a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll.
DeSantis recently endorsed O’Dea as “a leader who knows how to fight and get results,” adding that he is “not a career politician” and is “focused on building the wall and cracking down on crime.”
Following O’Dea’s CNN appearance, Trump took to Truth Social to call O’Dea a RINO – an acronym meaning “Republican in name only” – who is “having a good old time saying that he wants to ‘distance’ himself from President Trump, and other slightly nasty things.”
“MAGA doesn’t Vote for stupid people with big mouths. Good luck Joe!” the post concluded.
In response, O’Dea stated that Trump is “entitled to his opinion, but I’m my own man and I’ll call it like I see it,” according to Colorado Public Radio.
One recent poll showed O’Dea trailing behind the incumbent Bennet by 10 points, KDVR reported.
