Topline
Former President Donald Trump fired back at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Monday after the ex-president’s chief Republican primary rival claimed he would “do better” than Trump when it comes to judge appointments—provoking a callout from Trump that said DeSantis was flip-flopping on his opinion of Trump-appointed justices and insisted he was “hallucinating.”
Trump blasted DeSantis after the Florida governor claimed he would “do better” than Trump in picking … [+]
Key Facts
In a segment with conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, DeSantis said he respected Trump’s three Supreme Court appointees—Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett—but noted the justices did not meet of the level of justices he would appoint, saying his picks would be similar to justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
Trump labeled DeSantis’ comments as contradictory in a statement, citing a 2017 tweet from DeSantis in which the Florida governor lauded the appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch, saying it represented “a promising choice” by Trump.
Trump’s super-PAC tweeted a screenshot of a separate DeSantis tweet praising Trump’s appointment of Barrett.
Key Background
DeSantis has claimed as part of his 2024 presidential bid he could create a “7-2 conservative majority on the Supreme Court that would last a quarter century.” DeSantis replaced three liberal justices with conservative ones on Florida’s top court in 2019, a tactic he has continued to use into this year. The Florida governor is Trump’s top challenger in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, thoughDeSantis has not been overtly aggressive in his campaign against Trump despite the former president’s continued jabs against him. In response to Trump’s indictment in a Department of Justice investigation into allegedly mishandled classified documents, DeSantis claimed there was an “uneven application of the law” and suggested officials were overly “zealous in pursuing Trump.” Despite DeSantis’ relatively mild manners toward him, Trump has continued to prod his presidential competitor with callouts addressed to Ron “DeSanctimonious.”
Big Number
43%. That is the percentage of self-identified Republicans that pledged their support for Trump as a presidential candidate in a Reuters poll released Monday. Some 22% of respondents picked DeSantis as their preferred candidate, signaling that news of Trump’s indictment did not do much to change voters’ opinions.
Further Reading
DeSantis pledges to ‘do better’ than Trump on picking Supreme Court justices (The Hill)
Without naming Trump, Ron DeSantis condemns his indictment (Reuters)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/06/12/trump-suggests-desantis-hallucinating-after-critiquing-supreme-court-picks/