DeSantis: Trump mocking name is ‘petty’ and ‘juvenile’

Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said this week that former President Trump’s taunts regarding his last name are “petty” and “juvenile.”

“I think it’s so petty. I think it’s so juvenile. I don’t think that’s what voters want,” DeSantis told Jack Heath on “The Pulse of New Hampshire.” 

Trump recently mocked DeSantis for the pronunciation of his last name and referred to the Florida governor as “Ron DeSanctimonious,” a nickname the former president frequently uses. 

DeSantis told Heath that Trump’s behavior is one of the reasons why he lost the 2020 presidential election. 

“Honestly, I think that his conduct, which he’s been doing for years now, I think that’s one of the reasons he’s not in the White House now because I think he alienated too many voters for things that really don’t matter,” DeSantis said. “So I don’t get into the gutter on any of that.”

The Florida governor said there were “substantive differences” between him and the former president, but he added he still thinks Trump “did a lot of great things.”

“I still give him credit for the great things he did, but he’s attacking me on policy where we have a disagreement, and I’m the one that’s in the right on this,” he said. 

DeSantis cited Trump recently saying that former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) did a better job than DeSantis on handling the coronavirus pandemic. 

“Florida boomed as one of the nation’s foremost freedom zones,” he said, referring to New Yorkers moving to Florida during the pandemic. “We fought Trump’s own administration to make sure our kids could be in school and our businesses could be open.” 

DeSantis said he thinks the attack involving Cuomo “is a huge mistake.” 

DeSantis is beginning to sharpen his attacks against Trump now that both men are officially running for president. 

“Look, if someone is saying that, I’m gonna counterpunch and I’m gonna fight back on it,” DeSantis told reporters in Iowa on Tuesday. “I’m going to focus my fire on Biden, and I think he should do the same. He gives Biden a free pass. I’m focusing on Biden. That’s my focus.”