Trump, Ramaswamy Respond to DeSantis’s ‘Listless Vessels’ Comment

(L) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to guests at the Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 14, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images); (C) Former President Donald Trump prepares to deliver remarks at a Nevada Republican volunteer recruiting event in Las Vegas on July 8, 2023. (Mario Tama/Getty Images); (R) Entrepreneur and political activist Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during the Vision 2024 National Conservative Forum at the Charleston Area Convention Center in Charleston, S.C., on March 18, 2023. Logan Cyrus/AFP via Getty Images

The Trump campaign and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy have criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after he referred to supporters of former President Donald Trump as “listless vessels.”

“DeSantis is now running the same, failed playbook as Hillary Clinton,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement to The Hill. “He called all Trump supporters ‘listless vessels’ just like Crooked did in 2016 when she called us ‘Deplorables,’” he said referring to Ms. Clinton. “How did that work out? He should stop listening to his establishment handlers and start listening to the American people telling him to go back home.”

Mr. Ramaswamy, a GOP presidential candidate who is just behind Mr. DeSantis in the polls, responded to the governor’s comments saying that “the real danger to our movement is the rise of ‘listless-vessel’ robot politicians who blindly follow the commands of their Super PACs,” in an Aug. 20 post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Mr. DeSantis’s controversial comments were made during a recent interview with The Florida Standard.

“A movement can’t be about the personality of one individual,” he said, referring to President Trump. “The movement has got to be about what are you trying to achieve on behalf of the American people and that’s got to be based in principle.”

“Because if you’re not rooted in principle, if all we are is listless vessels that’s just supposed to follow ... whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning, that’s not going to be a durable movement.”

Other pro-Republicans have also criticized Mr. DeSantis for the remarks.

In an Aug. 19 post on X, Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, said that “Americans supporting President Trump & advancing the MAGA movement are not ‘listless vessels’, but are patriots who want their country back.”

Such patriots “for the first time, had a President and now a candidate who is willing to not just defend them, but fight for them while facing endless vicious attacks. Any Republican that doesn’t understand that, will have their political career shortened.”

Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Make America Great Again Inc. PAC criticized Mr. DeSantis, demanding that the Florida governor “immediately apologize for his disgraceful insult.”

“Ron DeSantis is showing his true colors. The pressure of polling in third place is getting to DeSantis and now he is lashing out at the very same voters who got him elected governor,” Ms. Leavitt said in an Aug. 19 X post.

DeSantis Lags in Polls

Mr. DeSantis’s “listless vessels” remark came as he lags behind President Trump in the GOP primary polls, while Mr. Ramaswamy is closing the gap to the second spot.

As of Aug. 20, President Trump had the support of 54.3 percent of voters in the Republican primary polls, according to data from opinion poll analysis firm FiveThirtyEight, while Mr. DeSantis had the support of 14.8 percent of voters.

Over the past months, support for President Trump has risen while Mr. DeSantis’s numbers have mostly taken a hit. On Feb. 18, support for both candidates was almost equal, with President Trump getting 40.8 percent support and Mr. DeSantis 38.8 percent.

But President Trump now has more than three times the support of the Florida governor.

Third-placed Mr. Ramaswamy has, meanwhile, narrowed his gap with Mr. DeSantis during this period.

Mr. Ramaswamy only announced his presidential nomination in late February. Between Feb. 25 and Aug. 20, he has pushed up his support from 2.5 to 8.4 percent.

The DeSantis campaign has defended the Florida governor’s comments.

“The dishonest media refuses to report the facts—Donald Trump and some congressional endorses are ‘listless vessels’. Why? Because Trump and DC insiders feel he is entitled to your vote” the campaign’s press secretary Bryan Griffin wrote on X.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) suggested that Mr. DeSantis made a bad political move with his comments.

“I don’t know why anyone running for president would put down half of the electorate and call them ‘listless vessels’ because they support the former president,” she said in an interview with Fox News. “Why Ron DeSantis would do that while his numbers are tanking is really beyond me.”

GOP Primary Debate

Meanwhile, GOP candidates are preparing for the first Republican primary debate scheduled for Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Mr. DeSantis, Mr. Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum have confirmed that they will be participating. They have also signed the Republican National Committee pledge requiring that they support the final candidate nominated by the party.

Former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have suggested they would participate in the debates well.

However, the leading GOP candidate, President Trump, announced in a recent post on Truth Social that he will “not be doing the debates.”

President Trump’s refusal to attend the debate has attracted criticism. “We don’t live in a monarchy, yet Donald Trump is acting like he’s waiting for his coronation,” said former New Hampshire state Rep. Melissa Blasek.

“This is a primary, and it is our duty to choose the best conservative candidate, but unfortunately, Trump seems too scared to defend his record to Republican voters.”

Mr. Ramaswamy, who previously stated that he expects to see President Trump on the debate stage, said in a recent interview with Fox News that he is “OK” if the former president skips the initial few debates.