Read the room, Donald. For the second time, reports of Trump’s “jokes” about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis falling short have been part of a recent story on the former president. He touts himself as the savior of Ron DeSantis’s political career when he was running for his first term as governor. Last month a crowd in Waco, Texas fell silent when Trump began his routine to belittle DeSantis and it happened again on Friday night, this time in Fort Lee County, Flor

Trump is a vane man, this is the truth. Maybe he thought the Waco audience was an exception and he decided to try the routine again in Florida. Did he conveniently forget that DeSantis won reelection by just short of 20 points last November? Beat him up at your own peril, Donald. When DeSantis ran for his first term, it is true he was struggling in the primary race. Trump likes to say DeSantis took off like a rocket after his endorsement. However, DeSantis only barely won that election. DeSantis defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum by only 79,000 votes. The margin was 49.88% to 48.9%. Contrast that to his reelection victory when voters sent a clear message that they approve of his governance of Florida.

Oddly enough, Trump has begun criticizing life in Florida during the DeSantis years by running down the quality of life in Florida. He slings barbs about the cost of living, crime rates, taxes, and schools, and calls Florida one of the worst states. He also boasted that “In Florida, I got 1.2 million more votes than your successful governor’s campaign.” DeSantis won his race, though, and Trump did not. A Trump campaign person tweeted out criticism of how DeSantis has governed Florida.

Trump campaign: DeSantis’ Florida is a hellhole of “misery & despair.”

Note: FL has gained more than 700k residents in the last 2+ years, as Americans have oddly flocked toward “misery/destruction” in a state where voters just re-elected their governor by a startling 20 points. pic.twitter.com/UzLls8lvts

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) April 21, 2023

This is how Trump takes out his competition in the primary, as it was his playbook in 2015. He’s repeating it in 2023. He knows his one real competitor is Ron DeSantis and he is not ashamed to go as low as he can in his personal attacks on the man, even threatening to bring Casey DeSantis into the mix. Remember how Trump treated Heidi Cruz in 2015? Anyway, there are early indications it may not work so well with Republican audiences, at least not in the early primary season. DeSantis hasn’t even declared himself a candidate. Instead of the usual raucous response Trump gets when he trashes Democrats and Biden in speeches, there wasn’t lots of laughter and clapping when Trump trashed DeSantis at the Lee County Lincoln-Reagan Dinner Friday night. There were a few chuckles reported but otherwise, the audience went silent.

‘In Florida, I got 1.2 million more votes than your successful governor’s campaign,’ Trump said during the Lincoln Reagan dinner on Friday. ‘You know that. We got 1.2 million.’

He then employed his voice mocking DeSantis and playing out the governor asking him for help during the 2018 gubernatorial race in the Sunshine State.

‘Sir I’d love to have your support, sir. I’d love to have your support. I’m down at about three. I’d love to have your support,” Trump reenacted before giving his imaginary reply: ‘All right, let’s think about it.”

He then dropped the performance and said: ‘Then there was like, a rocket ship after I gave it.’

‘Otherwise, right now, you’d have a lawyer someplace looking for business,’ he claimed of DeSantis.

Following Trump’s attack on DeSantis, there were a few awkward chuckles in the otherwise still room, which prompted him to add: ‘If that.’

Awkward.

Republican voters want to win in 2024. They are tired of losing when the environment is favorable to them. Stop snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Trump goes for personal attacks and DeSantis, when he gets in the race, is going to have to figure out how best to respond to that. He focuses on policy and generally avoids personal attacks. He will have to finesse that to counter Trump. It’s easier said than done. Otherwise, Trump would not have won the primary in 2015.

I find it interesting that Trump’s audiences don’t want the ugliness against DeSantis, and not just in Florida. Will it end up hurting Trump? It hasn’t so far in polling but we’ll have to wait and see when DeSantis enters the race. Trump remains the frontrunner. Will it last this time around?