The war between Team Trump and Team DeSantis has descended further into mudslinging and all kinds of stupidity. In this latest episode, those supporting former President Donald Trump began circulating a video in which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appears to buy into the idea that Russia’s interference in the 2016 election somehow caused Trump to win the race.
The video, which was first shared by journalist Darren J. Beattie, was also shared by a slew of other pro-Trump social media influencers. In the video, DeSantis is shown commenting on the Russia interference issue during an interview on Fox News:
What did Russia get out of this high stakes meeting? I don’t know what they got out of it. I think that Putin, if you look at the operation that they did with the spear phishing and the hacking, that was really a third rate operation. It was not sophisticated. I think the House Intel report and the Mueller indictment show that. But man, what mileage have they gotten out of that? A lot of that is being driven by the President’s political opponents, both in the Democratic Party and the press. I think that’s what bugs him about the issue is that it’s used to try to delegitimize his election victory. I personally think that the Intel report and the indictment are credible in terms of assigning blame culpability to Russia.
The problem? The video being shared edited out the rest of DeSantis’ comments so that the viewer did not have them in their proper context. The full video shows that the governor was making the point that while the Kremlin did attempt to interfere in the election, which has already been proven, their efforts did not determine the outcome, nor did Trump collaborate with Russia in this endeavor. He said:
But at the same time, I don’t think that had anything to do with the fact that he whupped Hillary Clinton. I also don’t think there was any Trump Russia collusion. And so there’s just all these issues that I think have been intermingled by a lot of the people that want to damage him as President.
DeSantis War Room, the governor’s Rapid Response Team, posted a tweet with the full clip debunking the falsehood:
This is 100% deceptive and @DarrenJBeattie knows it. Right after this clip ends, @RonDeSantis mocked Russia’s pathetic hacking attempt — saying it didn’t “have anything to do with the fact that he whupped Hillary Clinton. I also don’t think there was any Trump-Russia collusion”
The reality is that not only did DeSantis repeatedly repudiate the notion that Russia helped Trump win, he was one of his most ardent defenders of Trump on the matter. Nevertheless, some in Trump’s camp thought it would be wise to give the governor the same treatment that the activist media gave Trump when they disseminated the “Fine People” hoax. It is the same tactic they used against Kathy Barnette, who ran for Senate in Pennsylvania. High-profile Trump supporters shared edited videos that made it appear as if she supported Black Lives Matter.
There are plenty of substantive issues to criticize DeSantis about. The same can be said for Trump. However, this primary race has seemed to be nothing but a mudslinging circus so far. Both sides have failed to fully articulate a comprehensive vision for where they wish to take the country. The former president is banking on his popularity and calling DeSantis silly names. Conversely, DeSantis is more focused on woke culture wars than actual policy. Certainly, the issue is important, but Americans are also concerned about the economy and other problems they are facing.
This should not be surprising given the state of political discourse in America at the moment. Too many folks seem to be more focused on “owning” the other side than actually making their case to America.
The former president remains firmly in the lead, according to the most recent polling. He is still the favorite to win the nomination. However, in this political environment, anything can happen. If he wants to maintain his momentum, his team is going to have to do better than selectively editing videos to smear his opponents.