If you watched Fox News, Newsmax or CNN over the weekend you may have noticed a new ad attacking Ron DeSantis and declaring that “he is not ready to be President.” The ad is being put out by Trump’s Make America Great Again Inc. The PAC has spent $1.3 million for a week worth of spots on major national networks. It seems like Trump is eager to attack his biggest threat to the Republican nomination before he even enters the race. The messaging of the ad focuses on DeSantis’ past voting of Social Security and Medicare stating, “Think you know Ron DeSantis? Think again. In Congress, DeSantis voted three separate times to cut Social Security.” Watch the ad below:
According to the ad tracking firm AdImpact, this is the first cable ad buy of the election cycle. Alex Pfeiffer, spokesman for MAGA Inc. told Fox News that their group will continue to focus on attacking DeSantis.
“President Trump is on the side of the American people when it comes to Social Security and Medicare. Ron DeSantis sides with DC establishment insiders. We are going to expose the key differences between President Trump and Ron DeSantis that illustrate just how unelectable DeSantis is,” said Pfeiffer.
The ads are notable for multiple reasons, one being that DeSantis hasn’t even launched a presidential campaign yet. The other is the theme of the attack. Social issues are rarely the primary topic for Republican attack ads. MAGA Inc. was seeded $20 million last year by Trump in order to support Senate candidates. The candidates included Blake Masters in Arizona, Herschel Walker in Georgia, Adam Laxalt in Nevada, and Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania.
DeSantis has faced attacks on voting for cuts to Social Security and Medicare during the 2018 Florida governor’s race. But analysists agree that they were “exaggeration of DeSantis’ record of voting for non-binding budget resolutions offered by conservative Republicans in the House.”
The MAGA ad concludes, “The more you see about DeSantis, the more you see he doesn’t share our values. He’s not ready to be president.”
It’s clear that President Trump is eager to take on Governor DeSantis in an all-out battle for 2024.
