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.”
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.
“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.”
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.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.
“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.
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.”
“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.”