Pro-Trump group MAGA Inc. is up on TV in IA and NH with this spot — pic.twitter.com/x3vBIzITxR

— Medium Buying (@MediumBuying) May 19, 2023

[Not only is this massively dishonest, it’s also massively immature. Trump and his team just can’t stop using playground tactics; they keep field-testing new derogatory nicknames based on DeSantis’ name rather than formulate an actual argument. And this one doesn’t count, because it’s transparently stupid. DeSantis sponsored the Fair Tax initiative that would have created a national sales tax to *replace the income tax*, and which would have been contingent on a repeal of the 16th Amendment and the elimination of the IRS. Not all conservatives liked that approach — I preferred a statutory flat tax — but it wasn’t an *additional* tax. And you know who’ll remember that? Republican voters, that’s who — the same voters who debated this issue in the 2012 election cycle.

Besides, it seems rather weird for someone who has as much personal trouble with the IRS as Trump to be endorsing them on the campaign trail over potentially less-intrusive alternatives. — Ed]