It’s a day that ends in “y,” so it’s another day for the Outrage Machines to do their thing, and that is exactly what happened after a Florida Standard interview clip with Gov. Ron DeSantis set off the Trump campaign and the MAGA faithful, with the mainstream media also pouncing and seizing.
During the interview, DeSantis was asked about allegations from some of his critics—former President Donald Trump and his surrogates—that DeSantis was essentially an establishment “RINO” because, among other things, he’s supposedly “being controlled by the Bushes and the Cheneys.”
DeSantis’ response was to list his conservative achievements as both a former Congressman and a current Governor, noting that you wouldn’t see an “establishment Republican” do some of the things he’s done, like “ban transgender surgeries for minors,” “send troops to the southern border,” “eliminate critical race theory” from the public school system, and consistently demonstrate commitment to pro-life causes and upholding the Second Amendment.
When DeSantis was asked if he believed the Trump surrogates making those claims really thought he was a RINO, here’s what he had to say (transcribed from the below video):
“I don’t think they think it. I think that we have a strand in our party that views supporting Trump as whether you are a RINO or not. And so you can be the most conservative person since sliced bread, unless you’re kissing his rear end they will somehow call you a RINO. So it’s been totally detached from principle and what you actually believe and results, and it’s more about, you know, just what faction you happen to do.So there will be people who are huge Trump supporters like in Congress who have like incredibly liberal, left-wing records that’s really just atrocious, and yet they’re viewed by some of these folks as like really, really good. Then you have other people like Congressman Chip Roy, who has endorsed me, Congressman Thomas Massie. These guys have records of principle fighting the swamp that are second to none, and yet they will be attacked by some of these people and called RINOs.So it’s just been totally detached from any type of substance. And ultimately, a movement can’t be about the personality of one individual. The movement has gotta be about what are you trying to achieve on behalf of the American people, and that’s gotta be based in principle. Because if you’re not rooted in principle, if all we are is listless vessels that [are] just supposed to follow whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning, that’s not going to be a durable movement.”
Watch:
I mean the gist of what DeSantis was saying was that the conservative movement had to be about principles, and not 100 percent revolve around one personality and simply waking up and getting marching orders from Truth Social. Which, in my opinion, makes perfect sense.
Naturally, the Trump campaign took it personally and accused DeSantis of referring to Trump’s supporters as “listless vessels.” They compared it to Hillary Clinton’s infamous “basket of deplorables” comments from 2016, and demanded an apology for the “disgraceful insult”:
But it doesn’t sound like Team DeSantis is going to be doing any apologizing.
DeSantis’ press secretary Bryan Griffin responded to Politico’s spin on what DeSantis said by suggesting DeSantis was talking about Trump and his surrogates with the “listless vessels” jab:
The dishonest media refuses to report the facts—Donald Trump and some congressional endorsers are “listless vessels.” Why? Because Trump and DC insiders feel he is entitled to your vote. @RonDeSantis believes your trust should be earned and has the vision, plan, and record to beat Joe Biden and reverse the decline of our country.That’s why Ron DeSantis will be showing up on Wednesday night to debate, and Donald Trump will not.
“Listless vessels,” it should be noted, is a term both Gov. DeSantis and his wife Casey have used before:
The MAGA community’s outrage over the controversy surrounding DeSantis’ remarks caused some conservative influencers to do some quipping and flashing back while also making the observation that maybe some of their reactions proved the point:
Fair points or not? I’ll leave it to readers to debate.
For anyone interested, the full interview can be watched below:
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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