Donald Trump has another nickname for Ron DeSantis.
In a Truth Social post at around 3.30am ET on Monday, the former President posted a video clip with two words: “Ron Dukakis.”
The name marks just the latest nickname tried and tested by Mr Trump as he continues to take aim at the Florida governor – a onetime ally believed to be his biggest Republican competition in the 2024 race.
The scathing sobriquet seemed to be a reference to the 1988 Democratic Presidential nominee Mike Dukakis.
The former Massachusetts Governor’s ill-fated choice to demonstrate his ability to be Commander in Chief by riding around in a tank proved central to his undoing by the George H.W. Bush campaign.
Trump predicated this historical antecedent on footage from the Fox News show The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton, in which the host criticized DeSantis’ evolving position on Ukraine.
“Or as he should perhaps now be known: Ron Dukakis. Just like the hapless Democratic Presidential nominee in 1988,” Hilton contended, “DeSantis managed to look weak and incompetent all in one go.”
Hilton showed side-by-side pictures of Dukakis and DeSantis in military helmets, with the Florida Governor’s shot filched from his “Top Gov” ad which paid tribute to “Top Gun: Maverick,” and showed the Governor in flight gear laying down the “rules of engagement” for his ongoing battles with the corporate media.
Hilton’s skewering of DeSantis’ Ukraine position comes after multiple attempts to recalibrate a position he took two weeks ago now on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which he originally deemed a “territorial dispute” and not one of America’s “vital national interests” in a statement provided to Tucker Carlson.
“Well, I think it’s been mischaracterized. Obviously, Russia invaded (last year) — that was wrong. They invaded Crimea and took that in 2014 — that was wrong.” DeSantis told Piers Morgan last week, before seeming to contextualize Russia’s claim to Ukrainian territory.
