DeSantis Fires Back at Trump’s Implication He’s a Groomer: ‘I Spend My Time Delivering Results for the People of Florida’
“I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.”
So on Truth Social, President Donald Trump implied Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a groomer.
DeSantis answered today. Short and sweet:
DESANTIS: “And I’d also just say this. I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden. That’s how I spend my time. (Cheering and Applause) I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.” (Cheering and Applause)
BREAKING: DeSantis responds to Trump ReTruth accusing him of being a "groomer"
"I'd just say this. I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden […] I don't spend my time trying to smear other Republicans." pic.twitter.com/Ddj9Mb1MYj
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) February 8, 2023
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Comments
Trump’s ego makes him too stupid to understand what a powerful ally DeSantis could be.
Is it that, or did Trump give him a friendly platform to fire at, to clear his name? The pictures originated, I think, from some nasty tweets like many of the other nasty tweets, on Twitter.
If you fire back directly at a nasty Tweet, then the Usual Suspects dogpile on you. See every recent Tweet by Marjorie Taylor Greene.
This way, Trump sets up a target (himself), DeSantis fires back, as he must to clear his name, and the mullets make Trump the story instead of DeSantis. If they want to dogpile, they have to advertise Truth Social.
If this was round one of this line of attack on DeSantis then that would be a valid theory. What happened here is a repetition of the previous BS innuendo using the same photos. This was not the act of someone doing a favor to DeSantis. Instead it appears to be an unoriginal attack designed to provoke an emotionally heated response by someone desperately attempting to be relevant and newsworthy while out of office. Has a very ‘crazy ex girlfriend’ feel to it.
The idea that Trump has any real depth to his strategy left a while ago.
Oh, please. Is this more of that “4D Chess” explaining?
Or, is Trump jousting at the windmill of a DeSantis presidential campaign that hasn’t been announced?
Step away from the tin foil hat Val.
I’m a Trump fan, but don’t like what he’s doing. EVEN IF it “makes sense” in a scorched-Earth way, I don’t like it.
Hear that, Don???
Where’s Gonz?
Right here!
Just saw it, have to look further
https://americasvoice.news/video/8bFH403OtpE99Z2
If this doesn’t post you can find the Mike Lindell interview on part one and part two on Steve Bannon War Room about DeSantis
And yes, I support Mike Lindell 100%
Is the accusation that he was at a drinking party with students or that he attended a party of older, former students? Honestly, both would be pretty weird, but one is WAY worse than the other.
Or, is the photo even genuine?
If former students, now adults, were to hold a sort of reunion party I don’t think it would be at all weird for them to invite their former teachers, or for those teachers to attend. But what’s the provenance of this whole line of attack? Why concede anything without proof?
It is pretty abnormal for an early 20s teacher to be hanging out with 19 year old former students. That’s a pretty big red flag. I probably wouldn’t get fired for it, but I sure as hell wouldn’t get my contract renewed just so my principal wouldn’t have to worry about it.
In this context, and without any evidence of any real wrongdoing, I can dismiss it as a young teacher who was probably harmlessly unwise.
If he is at a party, with alcohol, of current students, then that would absolutely be a big deal.
Assuming, of course, that the picture is genuine. At this stage I just have questions about the photo and its context.
We never had a reunion when we didn’t invite our teachers, even the two old gay guys, and take tons of pictures. You have a dirty mind.
Maybe I am a bit more cautious about it because I work in the field. I’ve seen that pattern a few times before. It isn’t just me. If I attended a party with my students who graduated last year and a I posed for a picture in which a kid had alcohol, then I would lose my job. I am not saying that is right, but it is how it is. And, we all know why it is that way.
Calling me dirty minded isn’t true or fair.
“Assuming, of course, that the picture is genuine. At this stage I just have questions about the photo and its context.”
Wow! Isn’t that what the msm and every leftist in the country said about the Hunter laptop story?
Not even close. The laptop had a clear provenance, or the Post would never have touched it. What’s the provenance here?
They did dishonestly say that.
Am I wrong in saying there is little reason to think this picture is what it is alleged to be? If I am, I would like to be corrected.
Trump is using wrong tactics. SO, DeSantis has interesting supporters… but this is politics. What worked with !Jeb!, or Cruz won’t work now. Best to play the long game now. Sad.
DeSantis is trying to do what George H.W. Bush did by running as the natural inheritor of Reaganism by turning into Jimmy Carter once in office. Now DeSantis is trying to claim the MAGA champion title while dancing around with the GOPe establishment and their dirty money machine. Trump is Trump. How many times has he done this to be criticized for being wrong and out of line and yet being proven correct in the end?
Disantis has been linked to GOPe money from the beginning and proven to be a polymorph. He is just playing his latest identity as “the MAGA guy”. Still, people buy into DeSantis’ sanctimony. For him to answer the criticisms apparently would be beneath him? Really? This act is about to be exposed. The sooner the better. Trump know what he is doing. Again.
This is a giant pile of made-up garbage.
I hope my summary saves people some time.
Thank you.
Imagine if it’s true? Does PDJT know something we don’t????
Stuff and nonsense. DeSantis is far more nimble at dealing in attacks and with the press than Trump is. Trump is lashing out because he’s jealous. He’s not as smart about this kind of thing as DeSantis is, and he gets easily ruffled.
Blah blah blah, you and the Gonz never show any proof of anything but you sure do throw it out. Now you have a DeSantis link to some evil donors. Oh boy, that is really criminal. Hell, most of the Democrat party donors are evil people. Some of you think you are supporting Trump by bashing DeSantis yet he has made no announcement to run in 2024. Now you’ll have to go after Sunu and Haley since they are now declared. Maybe you can find a link to some evil donors of theirs too.
The donors they’re pointing to aren’t even evil. They’re generous people, and genuine conservatives, unlike Trump who is neither.
Even if that point is granted, this strategy of attacking des is not the best. democratic party eevils and mcconnell should be the focus, should it not? Just my opinion; i could be wrong
Sir, the idea that Trump has anything more in mind with this than attempting to smear DeSantis is a bit much. I voted for Trump. I supported Trump. But I have never believed that he has a grand plan, or is a master politician playing 4D chess at a level above all others. He’s a reactor, first and foremost. He sees DeSantis as a danger to his plan, so he attacks in any way he can, true or not. Which at this point makes him no better than the leftists who attacked him. I’m sorry, but Trump is past his sell-by date. With the hatred he engenders in a wide swath of the population, there is no way on God’s green earth he will ever allowed to be POTUS again. Your claims about DeSantis’ “sanctimony” sound like talking points from Rachel Maddow. I see DeSantis as a man who is doing a damn good job running a state overrun with snowbirds, while facing a MSM who’s expressed goal is to see him fail. But he hasn’t, and to judge by his response to this latest attempt to anger him, he won’t. We don’t need the infighting. Conservatives have to stick together, not let anyone, inside or out of our group, distract from the fact that we MUST regain control of the Oval Office in ’24. After seeing the lackluster results from the midterms, and watching the ongoing fiasco is AZ, it is obvious that the Dems are going to lie, cheat, and steal in any way necessary to defeat a Republican. There is no way they let Trump win, and if he somehow managed to, he would be hamstrung his entire term as he was the first time. It’s time to move on. We need to coalesce behind one candidate, someone who has a chance to win, not a retread with a track record of antagonizing both themedia and the electorate. Republicans must take control of the House, Senate, and Presidency, and then turn to rooting out the evil that the Schiff’s and Omar’s of the world represent, exposing them for what they are once and for all, and ensure they are unable to do so again.
DeSantis’ response is pretty lame. He could have explained the pictures to nail Trump with the truth. Instead, he skirts the issue with an empty, sanctimonious answer. So what about that picture Ron?
I am really surprised how easy it has become to doubt this guy’s integrity. I’ve been cheering his being a great governor teamed with Trump steamrolling the Uniparty. But he just keeps chugging along like a machine pretending to be too busy to getting involved in presidential politics. Yet, he has been backed by Uniparty money (neocon Club for Growth) since he first ran for Congress and now is ignoring all of the RNC billionaires who are raising money for his run.
Now today, reports that he is palling around with a Dominion lawyer, something I brought up yesterday:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/mike-lindell-goes-ron-desantis-aligning-dominion-attorney-dives-florida-election-results-video/#disqus_thread
And how long before he starts accepting money from the RNC version of George Soros, the giant Koch PAC AFP? Koch is out there looking for a candidate and Trump is already on record with “not interested in your money nor your globalist interests”.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/koch-group-back-gop-presidential-candidate-will-write-new-chapter-coun-rcna69281
The Bush machine want DeSantis and he isn’t doing anything to dispel these accusations. This is Jeb!!! redux.
You scared, bro?
“Neocon Club For Growth”?! Not that there’s anything wrong with neocons, but how on earth do you get CFG classed as one?!
Next you’ll be claiming Koch is a neocon!
Do you have any idea what “neocon” actually means? People who use it as a pejorative are usually using it as a codeword for “Joo” (though neither the Kochs nor the key players in CFG are Jews, so I don’t think you’re doing that).
I read TGP and it is nothing but catnip for MAGAs. They print one “Bombshell” headline every five minutes and they all turn out to be nothing. They fed the Kari Lake victory in the courts and every piece of red meat possible and they are always wrong. In reality, they should call themselves the “National Inquirer” online. And nbc news hates Trump more than anything or body on earth and they love to create fights between Rs. If you quote them on anything you play three card Monty on the streets of NYC, and lose.
Pasadena Phil, you and Gonzo need to put a lid on it. By supporting Trump’s accusations that DeSantis is a sexual groomer of teenage girls, you are losing whatever credibility you may have had on this blog. You are not helping Trump.
As if whatever is said in the comments makes any real difference, other than to the competing sides here?
Why should DeSantis, a politician, be hands, unless one sings praises. Or so it seems.
Hands off.
The posters in question have proven their penchant for completely made up shit time and time again.
It’s more you don’t agree with them, nor they with you.
No, it’s more that they have no clue what they are talking about as they either make it up (50%) or regurgitate it (50%) from websites designed to lure sad sacks into click baiting and foaming at the mouth over weakly-threaded conspiracy theories.
Sounds like an exxageration on several fronts, not to mention absolutist. Isn’t it more accurate to say you just don’t agree?
No, it is not an exaggeration, and that would not be at all more accurate.
Your opinion is just that. Yet you act as if it’s fact. It’s not.
That comment was clearly exxageration and overgeneralization, based on the bias.
If you, or he, can actually show they have no clue, that they make it up 50% of the time or regurgitate 50% of the time (in other words, they never have basis for what they say), that they are sad sacks into click baiting and foaming at the mouth over weakly-threaded conspiracy theories, by all means.
That kind of language sounds eerily like a progressive dumping on conservatives, It’s the same type of disparagement that Trump is accused of when it comes to DeSantis, but apparently it’s okay. Got it.
I’m not willing to give you much more time because you tried to start this “sounds like a progressive” schtick in another thread then whined when it was turned around on you and your compatriots. It was quite a pathetic display….try it again at the risk of your own reputation.
Here’s what I will offer, and the proof is fairly simple. Approximately (and I’ll concede approximately) 50% of the time the two of them will post regular links to sources that have been caught many times making crap up. The collective poor reputation of those sites (you can research that for yourself..I’m not your librarian) is a gift to progressives as more ammo to paint all conservatives with a broad brush as nutter conspiracy theorists. If that’s who you want to cast your lot with, so be it.
What both you and they won’t get away with is claiming anyone who doesn’t buy that pile of garbage is somehow not a conservative. And yes, the problem with Trump is that he leans heavily into said garbage and would rather stroke his ego in a pile of trash than demonstrate the character of leadership.
No one forces you to reply or to be dismissive. They comment was not actually directed to you, although your original comment was pretty silly.
If you don’t think it sounds like a progressive, go check it out. Can’t help if there is resemblance, but not afraid to say so. Sorry if that offends you.
Now you are conceding the point that you went too far in the way you labeled people who, in fact, have different opinions.
One last thing, it’s uuncool to tell someone what they are saying, or to put words in his/her mouth. Better to ask. You’re wrong in your assertions that, “claiming anyone who doesn’t buy that pile of garbage is somehow not a conservative.” Can you accept that? Or will you argue about that, too?
The only claim was that you and they disagree, and neither has a monopoly on truth, even if presented as such.
Last response from me…feel free to throw out more incoherent drivel or indicators of selective comprehension, at best, at your own leisure.
You responded to my comment. Furthermore, you referenced my words, not Milhouse’s, in the 2nd paragraph. At the very least, that invites a response. In the future, I will just reject your responses for what they are….severely lacking in substance and logically inconsistent.
I don’t really care what your definition of “cool” or “uncool” is either because you aren’t very good at keeping up. I don’t expect much from you in being able to follow everything said on this site by others because you seem to struggle to remember your own words across comment sections. That’s either a flaw or selective ignorance, but it doesn’t really matter which.
As a general rule the hard knocks and sharp elbows of a political contest are fine by me though IMO candidates should limit those attacks to the declared candidates for office in a primary. The members of another political party are always fair game as are all politicians as a class fair game for attack by voters IMO.
But perhaps DeSantis is playing his own games and hiding his intention as a means to shield himself as a “undeclared candidate.” Of course, it was better in days past when candidates did not declare so early. It makes the environment worse for everyone. In any event, it seems commenters here take it more serious than the politicians themselves.
When we recall this happened with Youngkin as well when he was the briefly the darling of national media it seems to be a pattern of attacking:
1. Sitting and successful GoP Gov
2. People who have not declared candidacy
3. People who receive press attention and/or become the current ‘hotness’ in GoP circles
Once people declare as candidates then by all means go for it kick them when they are up or down Until then it comes across to some like he is attacking potential rivals for no better reason than petty jealousy of their current place in the spotlight.
One might make the argument that he does it in an attempt to dissuade competition as he did in declaring as a candidate extremely early which is a good reason. One could also fairly interpret these actions as fear of the competition or anger that there will be any competition at all instead of an anointing.
Overall I don’t think it is a beneficial strategy but time will certainly tell.
How about family members and children? Physical conditions and someone’s looks?
IR,
Minor children should be off limits, IMO, unless they publicly eff up or have done something to put themselves forward into the public sphere. Posing for the typical ‘look at my family’ campaign photo doesn’t count though an on line presence might if they wade into political issues deliberately.
Wives and siblings depends. Have they put themselves forward into the limelight or sought to trade on the fame/influence of the candidate? If they are nothing more than present and smile and wave or give a basic human interest interview as has become common then leave them alone until they deliberately step forward or eff up in public; DUI or brawl or whatever.
Physical condition of the candidate? Fair game as is age. Looks seems petty but it has become part of the political landscape so sure fair game v the candidate but not his/her spouse or family members …unless they have thrust themselves forward into the public eye.
Hey, you neocons started this with insisting after Trump with the same lies the Uniparty has used. Politics is a bare-knuckled sport and if you can’t handle it, stay home. How about DeSantis explain those photos. Shouldn’t be too hard if Trump is wrong.
IAnd BTW, nstead of telling us to put a lid on it, you can use Fuzzy’s new technique of dismissing important arguments with “I. Don’t. Care.” which is a revised version of saying “Well the reason I disagree with you is……SHUT UP!”
You guys want to have a contested primary so let’s have one. This is what politics is about. Are you DeSantis people so soft and squishy that you can’t take it? I don’t know what those pictures are about but I would like to know. How about DeSantis tell us? Same with that dirty money hovering around him. And what IS his relationship with Dominion? Is DeSantis too high and mighty to answer those questions? Doesn’t inspire me to vote for him for anything. He is coming off as just another political weasel scheming his way to the next level.
Not neocons and not worth reading further.
You are so full of shit and off base that you should consider getting help.
Bless your heart, Pasadena Phil.
Not everyone who wants a primary is a neocon or a globalist. I want one and am neither of those things. I have been quite vocal about those positions. Please stop trying to smear those of us who believe in competition and that a battle tested candidate will emerge with a more focused and relevant message as a result that competition.
Then answer the questions instead of redirecting by attacking me and Gonzo personally. You guys are using the very lies that the Uniparty used (aka “Trump’s baggage”) to smear Trump yet DeSantis has been inoculated from any criticism at all. “Perfection is the enemy of the good”? Will that tired trope be resurrected again to ignore DeSantis’ flaws while you join in with the Uniparty in smearing Trump with lies?
Read these theads. This is a defacto RNC echo chamber. The fact that only two of us are making this a fight is evidence of it. There is a big discussion going on out there among people who are not welcomed in this echo chamber and you people are choosing not to participate in it. You would learn a lot.
So those photos… what’s the story? Don’t you want to know? Is this how it’s going to be again? Orange Man bad, DeSantis good? End of discussion? HAH!
I’m not getting enough down twinkles here so let me get it started. There. One down twinkle. Now pile on. Oh, oh… there goes my “credibility”! Or maybe there is a discussion to be had? No! Can’t have that! This is a sacred echo chamber!
Putting everyone not on board with anointing Trump and handing him the GoP nomination without any primary contest into the same box and slapping a label of globalist on it is an overly simplistic and very incorrect viewpoint.
Trump is entirely capable of defeating primary opponents just as he did in 2016. I don’t see why you oppose that process in 2024, especially since you have previously stated you have left the GoP.
If you choose to stand outside the tent and piss inwards that’s fine, have at it theres a whole lot effed up by the GoP establishment. However when you deliberately choose not be a member of that political party inside the tent you have forfeited your legitimacy to complain when the folks you turned your back on hold a primary. A contest that your preferred candidate is participating in.
Is LI as based as I would like? No. Is there more than a whiff of pearl clutching here? Sure. There are plenty of other websites with content to participate in. Many are somewhat Trump centric. No one website is going to satisfy every taste. IMO, LI does a solid job within its niche; center right constitutionalist with small amount of libertarian sprinkled in.
I honestly don’t care if DeSantis was banging 18 year old girls. It isn’t a crime and it was 20 years ago. It seems unrelated to his ability to kick progressives in the jimmy and secure victory after victory over woke totalitarians.
Much the same as I don’t care what Trump did when he was in his early 20’s or later in his personal life. It isn’t relevant to whether either will be the best candidate in the 2024 general election. That’s the real goal fielding the best candidate in ’24 and that will be decided within a primary contest. Until the I walk into the voting booth my mind is open and my primary vote up for grabs.
IMO it is as close minded and sophomoric to advocate for ‘only’ Trump as it is ‘never’ Trump. Both positions seek to eliminate valid choices of the electorate which for the GoP primary is comprised of those of us who remain registered as members of the GoP.
Not even in the ball park personally,
I want Trump to disappear for fucking up the GA runoff in Jan 2021. Cost us the Senate and enabled the utter disaster of the Biden agenda… and put Warnock in the senate for life.
Indefensible and disqualifying.
Amen, Brother. You could also add poor picks for last November, including Dr. Oz in PA. We just learned today that another consequence of that one is the House in the legislature just went Democrat by one vote, after having a 12 seat Republican margin, in a year that was supposed to be a Red Wave.
In PA, Trump’s ego drove him to pick Oz instead of the hedgefund guy whom Trump hates. He would have won easily but Trump couldn’t put the Party first, it had to be his choice.
Ossoff ran twice for a House seat and lost both times to two women but because of the mess Trump created in GA he is going to be there for 4 more years. And Warnock is a criminal grifter preacher who should be in jail not the Senate. Trumped also backed two of the worst candidates here in GA, Perdue, and Walker. There are six big blue cities here that have more votes than all of the rest of GA combined. By Trump coming down here, he cranked the leftist cities into overdrive and destroyed the political climate here.
It might be better for former President Trump if he spent less time smearing DeSantis on Truth Social and more time preparing for the indictments that are baking in easy bake grand jury ovens in GA, DC, NY, and SDNY
Has DeSantis said anything about running? Why should he respond to Trump’s insults? Why should he respond to a picture that is so grainy that one wonders how poor of a camera took it? Squishy? Hello, Disney, no CRT in FL schools, hurricane recovery like no other, about to become an open carry state, bonuses for first responders, cops, and teachers, fought his own legislature to get his version of redistricting, and then picked up five of the new districts. I think you had better get a thesaurus and look up “Squishy”.
We were ALL groomers of teenage girls – when we were teenage boys!
“… with alcohol as a teacher.”
Alcohol has taught me many things.
I was just going to post the same. Good grief, Trump.
Me too, but usually I’ve forgotten them by morning – which why it was always embarrassing to have to ask her her name.
BNL, “Alcohol” from the album “Stunt”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM68ISI8slM
If that’s the answer, then DeSantis needs to say it. The primary season is getting off on a bad start for him. If he really believes he can just ignore these things and later dismiss them all with a sanctimonious “I’m sick of all of these attacks while I am busy trying to do the business of Florida.!”, he will find himself saddled with “baggage” that he could have dealt with earlier. For now, he is acting more like Hunter Biden that an innocent man.
Here is the war Trump is fighting and this is just one battle.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/02/08/hunter-biden-sends-giuliani-bobulinski-desperate-frivolous-and-laughable-letter-to-preserve-laptop-from-hell-records/
Notice that it’s Trump’s people who are doing all of the fighting? THAT is why the Uniparty is so manically determined to destroy Trump. That is the reward for stepping up and risking everything to fight a war that WE don’t deserve to win.
Note to Trump supporters:
If you have to explain everyting your candidate says, you shold be afraid. Not because he’s necessarily wrong, but because he is ineffective communicating his message, and that looks like he’s wrong.
Note to DeSantis supporters:
If your candidate won’t answer questions but instead poses sanctimoniously while you attack anyone who dares ask questions, you should look in the mirror. There’s your problem.
Hey, Phil…read this about your bad boy Donald
https://sports.yahoo.com/ex-trump-fixer-michael-cohen-221900091.html
I voted for Trump twice, but I was severely disgusted with his attack on Ted Cruz’s wife in 2016, which Cruz, being the gentleman, unlike Trump, ultimately chose to forget.
Now Trump goes personal, not issues, with DeSantis.
Will not be in the least surprised if next week Trump has something disgusting to say about DeSantis’s wife’s cancer.
I know realize that Trump, who did a majority excellent things while in the White House, is a disgusting low-life gavone, and always will be.
One might say he is deplorable? And his supporters a basket of deplorables?
Trump is an extremely capable, feral opportunist, one with a very unusual “Skill Stack”, and to use Scott Adams construct, and pretty transparent motives.
The Feckless R’s would be well-served to understand him that way, and seek to co-opt him into an outcome that’s for the both of them. It would even be better for The Orange Crush should he formed a crew with people who could contribute what he cannot.
I’m not hopeful on either count.
Meanwhile, our job is to play the hand we got, not the won we wish we had.