GOP primary candidate Donald Trump held a campaign rally in Texas on Saturday and attacked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at length, as he has spent many weeks doing, but his own MAGA crowd was noticeably under-enthused by the remarks.
Trump’s mocking impersonations have always been a big hit at his rallies, and are a staple of his speeches. But when in Waco he said that DeSantis came to him with “tears in his eyes” begging for an endorsement, the lack of reaction in the crowd was in a way much louder than any raucous laughter at the mocking of Democrats like Hillary Clinton or Andrew Gillum..
In his build-up, Trump trashed DeSantis over his congressional record on programs like Social Security and Medicare. The ex-president whose administration locked down the entire country during the covid pandemic then bashed the early re-opening Florida governor for his record on covid. He also said that DeSantis is “not good” on crime, and said his poll numbers are dropping.
Those typical Trump applause lines got virtually no response at all from the crowd. He stirred up some positive reaction by describing himself as a “loyalist.”
When he then said DeSantis came to him “tears in his eyes,” while at “almost nothing” in the polls, there was some light, scattered chuckling somewhat audible.
“So he came, and he really wanted, I said, ‘You can’t win, can you? How do you, can win?’” Trump said. Then he acted out DeSantis begging him..
“‘Sir, if you endorse me, I’ll win. Please, Please, sir, endorse me,’” Trump said, performing in a crying, pleading voice..
Again, there was some faint laughter in the crowd, but it was mostly quiet. Exceedingly quiet in comparison to all of Trump’s other applause and laugh lines in the speech.
Matt Gaetz took some shots at DeSantis at the rally (not to mention Nikki Haley), as did MyPillow’s Mike Lindell. But this was by no means a big sell to the crowd. Compared to how Trump’s crowd normally reacts to his bits, the reaction to his mocking DeSantis was practically dead air.
