MANCHESTER, N.H.—Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis drew broad outrage over the weekend following his comments suggesting some Trump supporters are “listless vessels” in an Aug. 19 interview with a conservative Florida publication.
While the 2024 campaign for the Republican presidential candidate has since claimed the comment referred to “some congressional endorsers,” the comment has been widely interpreted by the Trump campaign and supporters as referring to all his supporters, drawing comparisons to former Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton calling Trump supporters a “basket of deplorables” in 2016.
“DeSantis goes full-blown Hillary and [calls] MAGA supporters ‘Listless Vessels,’” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, referring to Mr. DeSantis’s remarks made in an interview with The Florida Standard.
During the interview, Mr. DeSantis said, “A movement can’t be about the personality of one individual.
“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.
“Unless you’re kissing his rear end, they will somehow call you a RINO.”
Mr. DeSantis’s campaign responded, saying the governor was referring to President Trump and his congressional supporters.
“The dishonest media refuses to report the facts—Donald Trump and some congressional endorsers are ‘listless vessels,’” DeSantis campaign press secretary Bryan Griffin wrote on X.
Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for President Trump’s Make America Great Again, Inc. took to X almost immediately after the interview, demanding an apology.
“To Hillary Clinton, Trump supporters are ‘deplorables.’ To Ron DeSantis, they are ‘listless vessels.’ The truth is, Trump supporters are patriots,” Ms. Leavitt said in a statement, referring to a notorious comment by Ms. Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign when the then-Democratic nominee called her Republican rival’s supporters a ”basket of deplorables“ who were ”racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic—you name it.”
Jason Miller, an adviser to President Trump, wrote on X, “Looks like Ron DeSanctimonious just had his ‘Basket of Deplorables’ moment.”
Mr. DeSantis didn’t mention either controversy in his one-hour appearance at the town hall-style meet and greet held on Aug. 19 in New Hampshire’s working-class city, Manchester.
He spent some time focusing on what he identified as a growing problem with government agencies and administrators who use policies and rules to sidestep laws established by the state legislature and U.S. Congress.
Mr. DeSantis characterized it as a self-created and unauthorized fourth branch of government that operates outside the U.S. Constitution.
“We need to make sure that our government operates the way our Founding Fathers intended, they did not create a fourth branch of government and administrative bureaucracy that wields power without accountability,” he said. “A lot of the most important things in society are not done by your elected representatives. It’s done by nameless, faceless bureaucrats who impose rules and try to control people’s conduct.”
As he has been doing more often lately, the 44-year-old also spoke briefly about his military tours of duty as a U.S. Navy JAG in Iraq as part of his reflection on the pride of American veterans being soured by a “woke” ideology that has dampened enlistment in the U.S. armed forces.
The military, he said, has lost focus.
“They’re engaging in social experimentation, political agendas; you have people training on pronouns; you have drag queens involved in recruiting for some of our services. What is going on?” Mr. DeSantis said.
He vowed that as president, he would restore the military’s focus on what he called “mission first.” If elected, “on day one,” he would give “walking papers” to the director of the FBI, Americans would get a “new Department of Justice,” and he would put an end to government surveillance of parents who speak at school board meetings.
Mr. DeSantis also called for the immediate firing of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who had served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for decades before stepping down in 2022 after becoming a household name during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said he needs to be held accountable for the “harm and destruction” he brought to Americans by pushing for lockdowns as a response to the pandemic. While he didn’t mention the COVID-19 vaccines, also heavily promoted by Dr. Fauci, he did say that he “considered the entire COVID response to be the ultimate test of liberty in our lifetime.”
Mr. DeSantis also said it was “okay if we don’t win” and that what was more important was that the Republican Party unifies and takes back the country.
“The Democrats are playing for keeps,” he said. “If they win, they will have the U.S. Supreme Court, they'll abolish the Electoral College, make [Washington, D.C.] a state, and eliminate voter ID. They’re playing for the whole enchilada here. We don’t want to be in a situation where we’re whining about what could have been. No more excuses. We need to get the job done.”
Former New Hampshire state Rep. Michael Yakubovich, who was among those in attendance at Mr. DeSantis’s town hall event, told The Epoch Times that he believes that DeSantis is the best candidate to lead the Republican party back to the White House.
Mr. Yakubovich said he supported President Trump in the past but said he has “been a disappointment” in not speaking more strongly against the COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates.
He said when he looks at Mr. DeSantis’s track record as Florida governor, he sees a state in top economic condition and a politician with “no baggage.” With one child still left in high school, Mr. Yakubovich also said Mr. DeSantis’s track record for protecting parental rights is “a major draw for him.”
Mr. Yakubovich won his primary for state Senate in 2022 but withdrew his candidacy after being diagnosed with liver cancer, which he’s now battling.
Others in the small crowd, such as Heidi Marie of Hampton, New Hampshire, told The Epoch Times that they still believe President Trump is the best candidate out of the pool of Republicans looking to win the 2024 party nomination.
Mrs. Marie said she came to see Mr. DeSantis talk out of curiosity but called him “dead in the water.”
The Florida governor has plenty of ground to make up in order to catch President Trump for the party nomination. Polls show him lagging by as much as 40 points behind the MAGA candidate, even with the indictments the 45th president has been slapped with.
Mr. DeSantis mentioned nothing about President Trump’s reported decision to not participate in the first Republican debate. Mrs. Marie and others at the DeSantis event said she believed that it was a wrong decision for President Trump.
Former state Rep. Melissa Blasek, a well-known conservative New Hampshire Republican who introduced Mr. DeSantis, criticized President Trump for the decision to not participate in the debate.
“We don’t live in a monarchy, yet Donald Trump is acting like he’s waiting for his coronation,” she said. “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. DeSantis has already indicated that he'll be participating in the Aug. 23 GOP debate.
