Allies of Donald Trump are blaming Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for the fallout between the former president and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
The aides are blaming McConnell because ‘Ruthless,’ the podcast DeSantis appeared on last week to criticize Covid lockdown measures Trump encouraged early in the coronavirus pandemic while he was in the White House is co-hosted by McConnell adviser Josh Holmes.
“I like Josh. Josh is great. But he’s a wholly owned subsidiary of McConnell World. And there’s no way you can tell me that this was all a coincidence,” a Trump adviser told NBC news.
Days before DeSantis appeared on the podcast, Trump swiped at the governor in an OAN interview, calling politicians who refuse to reveal their vaccination status “gutless.”
Trump and DeSantis’ respective camps have denied any real problems exist between the two Republican heavyweights, and they blamed “the media” for overhyping tensions, according to NBC News.
“DeSantis and his staff knew what they were doing. How many Florida general election voters are listening to the Ruthless podcast?” a Trump adviser asked. “Now, that said, they might have been hoping for more out of Ron, because, let’s face it, he didn’t really criticize Trump. But they knew the media would instantly jump on it and wish-cast it into existence.”
