The Trump campaign and MAGA world on Saturday blasted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for remarks appearing to label some of the former presidentās supporters ālistless vessels.ā
āDeSantis goes full-blown Hillary and call[s] MAGA supporters āListless Vessels,āā 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.
āA movement canāt be about the personality of one individual,ā DeSantis said. āIf all we are is listless vessels thatās just supposed to follow, you know, whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning, thatās not going to be a durable movement.ā
A Trump-aligned super PAC also blasted DeSantisā statement.
āTo Hillary Clinton, Trump supporters are ādeplorables.ā To Ron DeSantis, they are ālistless vessels.ā The truth is, Trump supporters are patriots,ā MAGA, Inc. spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. āDeSantis must immediately apologize for his disgraceful insult.ā
āLooks like Ron DeSanctimonious just had his āBasket of Deplorablesā moment,ā said Trump adviser Jason Miller.
The statementsā reference to Clinton alludes to an episode during the 2016 election when the former Democratic nominee called supporters of Trump ādeplorablesā that were motivated by āracist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobicā feelings. After blowback from Trump, she later walked back those comments, saying that she was referring to his campaign rhetoric and not his supporters.
In a response posted to X, DeSantis campaign press secretary Bryan Griffin said the governorās comment was aimed at Trump and his congressional allies.
āThe dishonest media refuses to report the facts ā Donald Trump and some congressional endorsers are ālistless vessels.ā Why? Because Trump and DC insiders feel he is entitled to your vote,ā Griffin wrote.
Scary that, depending on the poll, heās 46 to 48 points behind Trump and heās in the #2 slotā¦
Thereās not really a republican figure who can challenge trump currently running. I think the only conservative who can realistically beat him would be Manchin, and hes a democrat.