Curt Flewelling, FISM News
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It has begun. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has launched his first television ad attacking former President Donald Trump. The ad is designed to refute Trump’s assertion that DeSantis would not preserve Social Security if he were to become president.
Since March 31, a pro-Trump super PAC, Make America Great Again, has been pummeling DeSantis with an ad claiming that the Florida governor would gut Social Security, an entitlement on which a growing number of older Americans rely.
The pro-DeSantis ad is funded by the Never Back Down super PAC and features a video of the governor saying, “We’re not going to mess with Social Security as Republicans.” The ad depicts Trump as the one that will tamper with the program as he tells CNBC’s Joe Kernen that he will indeed “take a look at” that entitlement.
Although he has not “officially” declared his candidacy, DeSantis certainly looks like a presidential candidate. In addition to the TV ad, Never Back Down recently ran an aggressive online campaign targeted at attendees of the National Rifle Association (NRA) convention.
The ad cites several Trump positions relating to guns that could make Republicans rethink his stance on the Second Amendment. The ad plays a clip of Trump commenting on “red flag” laws. These are laws that give law enforcement the right to confiscate firearms based on a suspicion that an individual could be mentally unstable and may harm themselves or someone else with a gun.
The disenfranchised individual would then have to go to court in order to prove that he or she was mentally fit enough to reclaim their firearm(s). The former president in a press conference on the issue said, “Take the firearms first and then go to court. I like taking the guns early. Take the guns first, go through due process second.”
As the ad battles rage on, Trump is posting staggering fundraising numbers. His 2023 campaign contributions have topped $34 million, nearly half of it, $15.4 million, since he was indicted for allegedly falsifying business records relating to an affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Trump has denied any wrongdoing or having engaged in such acts with Daniels.
In addition to leading DeSantis in many polls, Trump has also garnered several key political endorsements in the Sunshine State. All of this good news for Trump has led him to urge DeSantis to not even declare his candidacy at all, as he feels it will hurt the Republican Party.
The former president told USA Today, “I believe that if he decides to run for president – which will only hurt and somewhat divide the Republican party, which we don’t need – he will lose the cherished and massive MAGA vote.”
Never Back Down communications director Erin Perrine asserts that Trump is concerned. She declared, “Donald Trump should be worried, Ron DeSantis isn’t even a candidate at this point and Donald Trump is obsessed with him.”