COMMENTARY
‘Personality Problem’: Devastating DeSantis Reports Reveal Florida Governor’s Major ‘Likability’ Challenges
Ron DeSantis is getting hammered from all sides across a range of critical factors, and over the past 12 hours two reports detail what may turn out to be the Florida Republican Governor’s kryptonite: his personality.
Late Thursday night on MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour,” conservative Charlie Sykes declared DeSantis has a “personality problem.”
Likening DeSantis to former GOP governors Rick Perry and Scott Walker,” Sykes says, “he’s just not very good at this.”
“He’s got a personality problem which I think a lot of people always knew might come back to bite him – it certainly is now. But also, I think that with Ron DeSantis you’re also seeing that he doesn’t have the kind of political instincts that he needs to be able to scale up, and you know, I hate myself for what I’m about to say here, but this last week, Donald Trump has outmaneuvered him on every single issue – actually looking more reasonable than Ron DeSantis.”
“People just don’t like the guy. And I think that he calculated that he could go for that MAGA base by being the biggest jerk in the race. And, you know, frankly, you can’t do that. You can’t beat the reigning lizard king and Ron DeSantis is finding that out the hard way.”
.@SykesCharlie on Ron DeSantis: “I think that he calculated that he can go for that MAGA base by being the biggest jerk in the race, and frankly you can’t… beat the reigning lizard king.” pic.twitter.com/JOrEGX3bYd
— 11th Hour (@11thHour) April 21, 2023
Just hours later Politico Playbook kicked off the morning with a nod to the Florida governor’s devastating drop in the polls, citing a Wall Street Journal piece that reads: “Mr. DeSantis’s 14-point advantage in December has fallen to a 13-point deficit, and he now trails Mr. Trump 51% to 38% among likely Republican primary voters in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup.”
But it gets worse for DeSantis.
Noting they’ve focused this week on “stories about DeSantis’s off-putting social skills and lack of personal relationships with fellow Republican elected officials,” Politico reveals a former GOP Congressman says he “sat right next to DeSantis for two years on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and he never said a single word to me.”
Before being elected governor DeSantis was a U.S. Congressman from 2013-2018.
“If you’re going to go into politics, kind of a fundamental skill that you should have is likability,” Dave Trott, a Republican former U.S. Representative from Michigan who served during the time DeSantis was in Congress told Politico.
“I don’t think [he] has that,” Trott said, referring to DeSantis’ “likability,” or lack thereof.
“He never developed any relationships with other members that I know of. You’d never see him talking on the floor with other people or palling around. He’s just a very arrogant guy, very focused on Ron DeSantis.”
“I was new to Congress, and he didn’t introduce himself or even say hello,” Trott says, adding that he went to his first House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing “early, and DeSantis showed up right at the gavel time and didn’t say hello or introduce himself.”
“And then the next hearing, the same thing happened. I think the third time it happened, I thought, ‘Oh, this guy’s not ever going to say hello to me.’”
“Eventually,” Politico reports, “Trott took the initiative and introduced himself to DeSantis.”
And then, Trott drops this damning, deadly summation: “I think he’s an asshole. I don’t think he cares about people.”
This comes on the heels of last week’s news from the Financial Times, revealing top GOP donor Thomas Peterffy, who has handed out millions to Republicans and was prepared to back DeSantis just months ago has changed his mind, thanks to DeSantis’ extreme culture war actions.
“A major donor finally goes on record with what has been a whisper: donors are getting worried,” is how The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman described the report.
There of course are all the complaints over the past few weeks that DeSantis has been so occupied with his book tour, which apparently is designed to pave the road to his expected presidential campaign announcement – he has yet to declare despite seemingly campaigning in many places except Florida (he’s hit the battleground primary states and Saturday he heads to Japan, South Korea, Israel and the United Kingdom.)
DeSantis initially ignored the massive flooding in Fort Lauderdale, and even Florida Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio this week blasted him – albeit not by name – demanding to know why “they” haven’t fixed South Florida’s gas shortage (a result of the flooding and panic buying.) Meanwhile, DeSantis has been largely MIA from the Sunshine State, sans a late night quiet ceremony during which he signed a highly-controversial six-week abortion ban.
WATCH Ron DeSantis awkwardly tells people to cheer while he signs the 6 week abortion ban that most Floridians oppose.
— Florida Planned Parenthood Action (@PPactionFL) April 14, 2023
Then, of course, there’s the pudding, a devastating claim detailed by The Daily Beast.
“’He would sit in meetings and eat in front of people,’ a former DeSantis staffer told The Daily Beast, ‘always like a starving animal who has never eaten before… getting shit everywhere.'”
“Enshrined in DeSantis lore is an episode from four years ago: During a private plane trip from Tallahassee to Washington, D.C., in March of 2019, DeSantis enjoyed a chocolate pudding dessert—by eating it with three of his fingers, according to two sources familiar with the incident.”
Finally, making clear just how unliked DeSantis is, Donald Trump has been actively courting endorsements from every Florida elected politician he can get – and he is getting them, which he made clear in this photo posted Thursday night.
The Mob Boss sends a message to Ron Desantis, assembling all the Florida Members of Congress who endorsed him for president for a group photo last night. pic.twitter.com/G6AZKNwJke
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) April 21, 2023
See the videos and photos above or at this link.
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After stalling on a decision in the escalating Middle East crisis and delaying action—some say potentially in defiance of federal law—on the congressionally mandated TikTok ban, President Donald Trump, facing sliding poll numbers, a widely criticized budget bill on the brink of collapse, a looming debt ceiling showdown, and apparent tensions with his Director of National Intelligence, is heading to his Bedminster golf resort for a MAGA dinner and an early weekend likely to include several rounds of golf.
The decision to leave the White House early on Friday comes after he left the G7 early this week, reportedly to make a decision on whether or how to help Israel attack Iran. His former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, jokingly said Trump exited the conference with top world leaders because he was “bored,” The Hill reported.
The President is slated to exit the White House at 2 PM Friday.
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“With the world on edge, the president’s early departure underscores a pattern critics say reflects misplaced priorities, favoring fundraising and familiar retreats over the day-to-day demands of governance,” MeidasTouch News reported.
The long weekend also comes just hours after President Trump denounced “too many days off” for federal and other workers, a remark he made on Juneteenth, a federal holiday signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021. Trump had campaigned on passing the legislation to honor and celebrate the day that symbolizes the end of slavery, but made no mention of it this year.
“Too many non-working holidays in America,” Trump decried Thursday evening.
“I know this is a federal holiday.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday. “I want to thank all of you for showing up to work. We are certainly here. We’re working 24/7 right now.”
This week, in addition to meeting with his national security team, and an “awkward” meeting with players of the Juventus soccer team, Trump presided over the installation of two 88-foot flag poles and the raising of massive American flags at the White House.
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Trump’s long weekend also comes just one week after millions protested his policies across all 50 states and internationally on Saturday, while he attended a military parade celebrating his and the U.S. Army’s birthdays, and after a tragic political assassination of a Democratic lawmaker and her spouse.
It also comes one week after Trump appeared to make a major about-face, saying farm, hotel, and restaurant workers are valuable and extremely difficult to replace. He suggested that ICE would pause targeting those workers, only to turn around just days later to announce “the largest mass deportation program in history.” The pause on deportations was canceled, leading one notable political commentator and legal analyst, Joyce Vance, to wonder if Trump is actually in charge.
“Who’s running the show?” she asked, suggesting someone may have “countermanded” him on the deportations. “Who’s in charge? Trump or someone else?”
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Image via Reuters
Military and political experts, veterans, and journalists are condemning President Donald Trump’s political rally at Fort Bragg on Tuesday, warning he crossed a critical line by delivering overtly political and authoritarian-themed remarks before U.S. Army troops. They also expressed alarm that uniformed soldiers appeared at ease booing his political opponents—another troubling breach of military norms. Some now say the time has come for generals to publicly speak out.
The commander in chief entered the event to “Hail to the Chief,” and as he took to the stage, his “MAGA anthem,” “Proud to Be an American,” played. For nearly one hour, in about 9,000 words, Trump delivered a political stump speech. He attacked his political opposition, Democrats, including President Joe Biden and his administration, California Governor Gavin Newsom (“Newscum”) and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. He attacked transgender Americans. He attacked the Democratic U.S. Senators who opposed the nomination of Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary, calling them “a very hostile group of people that I think really don’t want to see America be great again.”
He got the soldiers to boo “the fake news” media, and President Joe Biden. He told them the 2020 election was “rigged and stolen.”
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He attacked the people in Los Angeles protesting his deportation policies, describing it as “anarchy,” while telling the soldiers that defending their civil rights was not the reason Americans fought overseas:
“Generations of army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third world lawlessness here at home like is happening in California. As Commander in chief, I will not let that happen. It’s never going to happen. What you’re witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags with the aim of continuing a foreign invasion of our country.”
He thanked the generals, and mentioned some by name. He talked about “the real generals,” as opposed to the ones Americans see on television.
Critics are warning of grave consequences.
“This is the most unacceptable and egregious politicization of our troops we’ve ever seen,” wrote veterans’ activist Paul Rieckhoff, an Army combat veteran, responding to video of Trump getting the soldiers to boo the press, President Joe Biden, and the mayor of Los Angeles.
Trump goaded active duty troops at his Fort Bragg speech to boo:
The Media, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Mayor Karen Bass, and Joe Biden pic.twitter.com/1v9amsi7rv
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) June 10, 2025
“And it’s not a one off. It’s a strategy,” added Rieckhoff, who is also the founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). “And one we’ll see in full and dangerous display this weekend at his military birthday parade for himself. Trump wants the world to think our great military is HIS military. And wants to coerce and manipulate troops into making them think it is too. And driving down their public trust and approval by the minute. Trump has created America’s greatest civil-military relations crisis since the Civil War. And it’s just getting started.”
Retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel Alexander Vindman, a former Director of European Affairs for the National Security Council (NSC), warned: “America’s Generals and Admirals are terrified. They are cowed. They seem unlikely to hold the line and live up to their oaths to serve the U.S. Constitution.”
Lamenting that “the Generals stay silent,” he added: “Our democracy is in great danger. This morning I wonder if we crossed a line and there’s no going back.”
Army combat veteran Fred Wellman, a graduate of West Point and the Harvard Kennedy School who is now the host of the podcast “On Democracy.” responded to Vindman by saying, “The silence is deafening.”
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Retired U.S Army lieutenant general Russel L. Honoré, who served as the commander of Joint Task Force Katrina, blasted Trump’s speech: “Damn @POTUS Speech At #FortBragg was inappropriate, criticizing previous administration, and Generals while speaking to troops , I never witnessed that S..t like this in 37 years in Uniform.”
Author and former Under Secretary of State Richard Stengel observed, “Unlike other militaries, American soldiers do not swear an oath to the state, or a person, or a monarch, but to the Constitution. Trump calls them ‘his’ military—but they are ours, and they swear to ‘support and defend the Constitution,’ not one man.”
Tom Nichols, a retired U.S. Naval War College professor and Russia expert, at The Atlantic targeted the generals for staying silent.
He wrote, “senior officers of the United States military have an obligation to speak up and be leaders. Where is the Army chief of staff, General Randy George? Will he speak truth to the commander in chief and put a stop to the assault on the integrity of his troops? Where is the commander of the airborne troops, Lieutenant General Gregory Anderson, or even Colonel Chad Mixon, the base commander?”
“Where is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine? He was personally selected by Trump to be America’s most senior military officer. Will he tell the man who promoted him that what he did today was obscene?”
Retired U.S. Army General Barry McCaffrey, often seen on cable news, called Trump’s speech “a disgraceful politicization of the active Armed Forces. He is the Commander in Chief. The only loyalty of the Armed Forces is to the Constitution. Their focus is on protecting America from foreign enemies. Grave danger.”
Watch the video above or at this link.
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Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump made a series of inaccurate claims in his remarks on Tuesday, conflating World War I and World War II, incorrectly suggesting he spoke with the governor of California on Monday when it was just after midnight Saturday morning, and asserting—contrary to the First Amendment—that protests, even peaceful ones, can be shut down with “heavy force.”
During remarks to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump was asked when he last spoke with California Governor Gavin Newsom. “A day ago,” he said Tuesday afternoon, which was three and a half days after the governor confirmed his phone call. Trump also confirmed the call by sending a screenshot to a Fox News reporter. The screenshot read June 7, 1:23 AM.
“Recently, other countries celebrated the victory of World War I, France was celebrating, really,” Trump told troops at Fort Bragg on Tuesday afternoon. “They were all celebrating. The only one that doesn’t celebrate is the USA and we’re the ones that won the war. Without us, you’d all be speaking German right now. Maybe a little Japanese thrown in. But we won the war.”
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The United States was part of a coalition during both WWI and WWII. Trump was speaking about WWI, but then claimed, “Without us, you’d all be speaking German right now. Maybe a little Japanese.”
That’s a reference to World War II—Japan was on the side of the Allies, with the U.S., in WWI.
Trump says we won World War I and without the US, we would all be speaking German and possibly Japanese
Trump: Recently other countries celebrated the victory of World War I, France was celebrating. Really. The only one that doesn’t celebrate is the U.S.A. And we’re the ones… pic.twitter.com/BbEK1BlCyJ
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 10, 2025
Also on Tuesday, Trump declared that anyone caught protesting his controversial military parade on Saturday will be met with “very heavy force,” despite the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution clearly protecting political protests.
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“We won the war, and we’re the only country that didn’t celebrate it, and we’re going to be celebrating big on Saturday,” Trump claimed. Veterans Day was initially created as Armistice Day to honor those who died in World War I.
“And if there’s any protestor that wants to come out, they will be met with very big force. By the way, for those people that want to protest, they’re gonna be met with very big force. And I haven’t even heard about a protest, but, you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.”
The First Amendment protects both political speech and the right to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Trump did not state “violent protestors,” or “rioters.” He said “any protestor.”
“For those people that want to protest … they will be met with very heavy force.”
Pres. Trump warned potential protesters ahead of the military parade on Saturday, which will honor the 250th birthday of the Army and coincides with Trump’s 79th birthday. https://t.co/jKHofFxVNK pic.twitter.com/wFpEhDydYg
— ABC News (@ABC) June 10, 2025
Watch the videos above or at this link.
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