A funny thing has been happening with Ron DeSantis ever since he officially launched his presidential campaign: The Florida governor can’t seem to decide how to pronounce his last name. At 44 years old, you’d think DeSantis would know how to say his own name, but the biggest threat to Donald Trump has been noticeably switching pronunciations over the past few weeks.
Via Axios:
What’s happening: During his first week as a candidate, DeSantis pronounced his name “Dee-Santis” during: The video announcing his presidential campaign. A radio interview in South Carolina, in which he told listeners to go to “RonDee-Santis.com.”
But then: DeSantis pronounced it “Deh-Santis” during interviews with Fox News, Glenn Beck, Erick Erickson, and Mark Levin this past week.
However, when DeSantis was asked by a Fox News reporter how to correctly say his last name, the Florida governor grew irate and lashed out at the question.
“This is ridiculous,” DeSantis said. “These stupid things. Listen, the way to pronounce my last name? Winner.”
Desantis is asked about changing the pronunciation of his last name: “This is ridiculous.. The way to pronounce my last name? ‘Winner.’” pic.twitter.com/RrMAav9fq3
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 2, 2023
Naturally, the Trump campaign has already latched onto Namegate. A Trump spokesperson told Axios, “If you can’t get your name right, how can you lead a country?” and it wasn’t long until the former president got in on the action with a Truth Social post.
“Have you heard that ‘Rob’ DeSanctimonious wants to change his name, again,” Trump wrote. “He is demanding that people call him DeeeSantis, rather than DaSantis. Actually, I like ‘Da’ better, a nicer flow, so I am happy he is changing it. He gets very upset when people, including reporters, don’t pronounce it correctly. Therefore, he shouldn’t mind, DeSanctimonious?”
(Via Axios)