The New York Post, the right-leaning tabloid newspaper published in New York City, mocked former president Trump on the cover of its Wednesday print issue after it praised Governor Ron DeSantis as the emerging leader of the GOP.
“Don (who couldn’t build a wall) had a great fall — can all the GOP’s men put the party back together again?” the front page jibed. The large cover text read: “Trumpty Dumpty.”
A smaller text box featured more condemnatory commentary against Trump. “Analyst John Podhoretz has two words why Tuesday was a ‘red trickle’: Donald Trump. His terrible candidates dragged Republicans down. And now, writes columnist Piers Morgan, it’s time for Trump to move on from politics,” it said.
The publication’s humorous dismissal of Trump came after New York Post columnist Michael Goodman wrote an article celebrating DeSantis’s Florida gubernatorial reelection victory and declaring him the “future” of the Republican party.
“An old proverb says that the dogs bark, but the caravan goes on. In an updated version, Donald Trump plays the noisy dog as Ron DeSantis marches to victory,” Goodman snarked.
Just days before the midterm election, Trump made a few public digs at DeSantis, in a glimpse of the fratricidal rivalry that might come to fruition in the coming years. At a rally intended to boost Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dr. Oz, who just lost his bid against Democrat John Fetterman Tuesday night, Trump announcing the derogatory nickname, “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
After DeSantis’s massive win in Florida, a nearly 20 point margin over his opponent Charlie Crist as of Wednesday night, Trump went on Truth Social, his social media platform, to downplay the governor’s historic gains.
“Now that the Election in Florida is over, and everything went quite well, shouldn’t it be said that in 2020, I got 1.1 Million more votes in Florida than Ron D got this year, 5.7 Million to 4.6 Million? Just asking?,” he asked.
Commenters quickly corrected Trump’s false comparison between midterm and presidential years, given that turnout is always much higher for the latter. However, in terms of margin of victory, Trump’s was 3.3 percent in 2020, with 371,686 votes, and DeSantis’s was 19.4 percent in 2022, with 1,507,081 votes.
Trump, who is expected to announce a 2024 bid soon, has also threatened to release damning information about DeSantis if the GOP governor runs for president.
“If he runs, he runs,” Trump said, according to the Wall Street Journal. If DeSantis chooses to run, however, Trump could disclose “things about him that won’t be very flattering,” he warned. “I know more about him than anybody other than perhaps his wife, who is really running his campaign.”
“I think if he runs, he could hurt himself very badly,” Trump said. “I think he would be making a mistake. I think the base would not like it.”
