Former President Donald Trump on Sunday called the New York Post “fake news” for a “puff piece” written about Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The New York Post published a profile about DeSantis on Saturday, featuring details about the governor’s blue-collar upbringing and his undergraduate experience at Yale University. Trump addressed the piece and attacked DeSantis on Truth Social. (RELATED: DeSantis Responds To Trump’s Latest Attacks: ‘I Spend My Time Delivering Results’)
“In writer Salena Zito’s Fake News ‘puff piece’ about DeSantis, which supposedly appeared in the dying New York Post, which is way down in readership just like FoxNews is way down in Ratings, why doesn’t she mention that he wants to cut Social Security & Medicare, loves losers like Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, and Karl Rove, and it getting CLOBBERED in the polls by me,” Trump said.
“DeSantis is a RINO who is trying to hide his past. I don’t read the New York Post anymore. It has become Fake News, just like Fox & WSJ!”
Trump has escalated his attacks on DeSantis after recent polls showed DeSantis would pose a formidable challenge to Trump for the GOP nomination if he decides to run for president.
Trump on Feb. 7 amplified a photo of DeSantis allegedly partying with underage girls, days after Trump said DeSantis is a “RINO” and “globalist” who imposed covid lockdowns on Florida residents.
The former president began mocking him as “DeSanctimonious” in November and reportedly calls him “meatball Ron” in private, an allegation Trump denies. The New York Post asked DeSantis about the “DeSanctimonious” nickname, to which he responded “I don’t know if anyone even can spell that.”
He talked to the Post about his blue collar childhood in Dunedin, a town on Florida’s Gulf Coast, and his experience working part time jobs to pay his way through Yale University. DeSantis’ father had a job installing cable boxes for Nielsen families and his mother worked in nursing.
A key part of DeSantis’ national agenda is a proposal to move key government agencies out of Washington, D.C., to reduce the power of the administrative state. “Too much power has accumulated in DC and the result is a detached administrative state that rules over us and imposes its will on us,” he told the New York Post.
“While there are a host of things that need to be done to re-constitutionalize government, parceling out federal agencies to other parts of the country could help reduce the negative effects of this accumulation of power,” DeSantis continued.
His memoir, “The Courage to Be Free,” will be published by HarperCollins on Feb. 28. The book will cover DeSantis’ life and his key policy achievements as governor of Florida, its description says.