Ron DeSantis has not been having a good time luring Republicans away from Donald Trump. He’s not making his job any better. Last week the Florida governor sat down for an interview with Florida Standard, in which he laid into the MAGA crowd. His team later claimed that he really meant Trumpist lawmakers who’ve called him “RINO,” not the entire movement or anyone who digs Trump. Even that could be seen as risky for someone trying to be the party’s presidential nominee, but credit where it’s due, he’s sticking by his guns.
DeSantis on Fox News defends his “listless vessels” comment, saying MAGA Republican members of Congress who are attacking him put “entertainment and personality over principle” pic.twitter.com/1dB5y3WOTo
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 21, 2023
As per The New York Times, the pudding guy went on Fox News, where he was asked about why he called MAGA congressfolk “listless vessels” who “follow whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning.” He clarified that he was speaking about a narrow — if powerful — portion of today’s GOP.
“The people in Congress that I was referring to, that have attacked me and tried to say somehow that I was a RINO, they’re putting entertainment and personality over principle,” DeSantis said. “Our voters want us to stand on principle and fight for them.”
DeSantis’ “listless vessel” bit went viral over the weekend, prompting some to compare it to Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorable” line to describe die hard Trump supporters.
Even if DeSantis’ attempts to refine those comments work on voters, he’s still likely alienated the people he was addressing, who have worked tirelessly at their jobs at being complete nuisances who spend their hours on the clock hatching harebrained schemes to rescue their favorite former president from potential jailtime. That said, it’s not like he has much of a chance with that faction anyway.
(Via NYT)