Trump’s new label for Ron DeSantis, ‘Globalist RINO,’ has its roots in a far-right conspiracy theory about an insidious global network of powerful people
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Former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Alon Skuy/AFP via Getty Images and Scott Olson/Getty Images
- Trump has a new tag for Ron DeSantis: “Globalist RINO.”
- The term “RINO” stands for “Republican in Name Only” and was previously reserved for Trump’s biggest haters.
- Meanwhile, “globalist” has its roots in a far-right conspiracy theory.
Former President Donald Trump has a new label for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis: “RINO Globalist.”
“The real Ron is a RINO GLOBALIST, who quickly shut down Florida and even its beaches. I loved the vaccines and wasted a lot of money on ‘testing’. How quickly people forget!”, Trump wrote on Truth Social Wednesday.
Far-right conspiracy theorists use the word “globalist” refer a fringe and anti-Semitic conspiracy theory about cabal of elite individuals secretly controlling the world. Trump’s insult is a thinly veiled accusation that DeSantis is part of this worldwide network of powerful and evil people. Trump has provided no evidence to support this claim.
As for the term RINO, or “Republican in name only,” it’s an insult Trump reserves for his political enemies in the GOP. He called former representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger “horrible RINO” in February 2022 because they served on the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol Riot.
The new insult marks a continuation of Trump’s recent attacks on DeSantis. Saturday, Trump called DeSantis “very disloyal” for considering a race against him in 2024.
“So when I hear that he might flee, you know, I consider that very unfair,” Trump told reporters aboard his plane, per CNN. “But, it’s not about loyalty – for me, it’s always about loyalty. But for a lot of people, it’s not about that.”
Trump-DeSantis drama heats up
Asset announced his 2024 presidential run in November. DeSantis has yet to announce a race, but that hasn’t stopped Trump from going on the offensive.
In November, Trump dubbed the governor “Ron DeSanctimonious“during a rally and castigated him as “average” on social networks.
In January, Trump said he will “manage” DeSantis if the governor decides to launch a presidential candidacy in 2024.
DeSantis has abstained to trade tit-for-tat insults with Trump. In November, DeSantis tells people to “relax” on the prospect of a GOP civil war between him and the former president.
On Tuesday, the governor finally acknowledged Trump’s onslaught of insults.
“I’m rolling out of bed, people are attacking me from every angle, this has been happening for many, many years,” DeSantis said at a press conference in response to a question about Trump’s attacks, per Politics.
“The good thing is people are able to pass judgment on that whether they re-elect you or not,” DeSantis added. “And I’m happy to say – you know, in my case – not only did we win re-election, but we won with the highest percentage of votes that any Republican gubernatorial candidate has had in the Florida State History.”
Talk to The hill this week, Stephen Lawson, a political strategist who worked for DeSantis in 2018, said DeSantis was making a good move by simply letting Trump “self-implode.”
“No one has done more to hurt Donald Trump than himself and I think Governor DeSantis is taking absolutely the right tact here, completely ignoring Trump and letting him throw boomerangs,” Lawson told The Hill.
Representatives for DeSantis and Trump did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.
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