Trump’s team pitch nicknames for ‘tiny’ Desantis
Former president floats insulting monikers for his Republican rival
DONALD TRUMP and his team are hard at work creating a new nickname for his Republican rival, Ron Desantis, with possibilities reportedly including “Ron Dishonest” and “Tiny D”.
He is also said to be considering “Ron Deestablishment”, which would form part of an attempt to paint his rival as a Republican In Name Only (Rino).
The former US president’s favourite moniker is said to be “Ron Desanctimonious”, which he first used publicly at a rally in Pennsylvania in November.
However, some members of Mr Trump’s team are said to prefer other nicknames.
Mr Desantis’s exact height remains unclear but he is shorter than Mr Trump, who is 6ft 3in, and “Tiny D” is reportedly one option.
In 2016, Mr Trump successfully undermined Marco Rubio, at one point a favourite for the Republican nomination, by repeatedly referring to him as “Little Marco”.
Mr Rubio is 5ft 9in tall. He has also used the nickname “Ron Desanctus” for his rival on his Truth Social network.
Advisers to Mr Trump have reportedly been delving into Mr Desantis’s political record and his time as a teacher at a private boarding school in Georgia, looking for anything controversial.
One point of attack is expected to be comments the Florida governor previously made about privatising social security and raising the retirement age.
Mr Desantis has since distanced himself from the comments, saying that the Republican Party will “not mess with social security”.
Other nicknames that Mr Trump coined successfully in 2016 included “Low Energy Jeb” Bush, “Crooked Hillary” Clinton, and “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz. In 2020, he settled on “Sleepy Joe” for Joe Biden.
Mr Trump and Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, are currently the only major declared candidates for the 2024 Republican nomination.
Mr Desantis is widely expected to delay declaring himself a runner until early summer, at the end of the legislative session in Florida.
He has, so far, avoided attacking Mr Trump and did not respond to being called “Ron Desanctimonious”.
In a front-page headline, the New York Post nicknamed Mr Desantis “Defuture”.
Mr Trump has denied a report that he had been considering designating his rival “Meatball Ron”.
The 76-year-old wrote on his Truth Social online platform last month: “I will never call Ron Desanctimonious ‘Meatball’ Ron, as the Fake News is insisting I will. It would be totally inappropriate to use the word ‘meatball’ as a moniker for Ron!”
Mr Desantis is expected to visit Iowa this week which will be the first state to vote in the 2024 Republican nomination contest.
The 44-year-old will hold two events at which he will be interviewed by Kim Reynolds, the Republican governor of the state.
Mr Trump is expected to visit three days later for his first event in Iowa since declaring his 2024 campaign.