Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is in hot water Sunday after he appeared to call MAGA supporters “listless vessels” in a recent interview with the Florida Standard. While speaking to Will Witt, DeSantis explained that he believes “the movement” needs to be “based in principle, because if you’re not rooted in principle, if all we are is listless vessels that are 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.”
Many MAGA voters and Trump aides immediately compared DeSantis’ comment to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 characterization of Trump voters as a “basket of deplorables.”
Predictably, Donald Trump and his supporters jumped on the comment almost as quickly as it was made. MAGA spokesperson Karoline Leavitt shared a statement on Twitter that she titled “Ron DeSantis Must Immediately Apologize.”
Leavitt continued, “To Hillary Clinton, Trump supporters are ‘deplorables.’ To Ron DeSantis, they are ‘listless vessels.’ The truth is, Trump supporters are patriots.”
She also used the opportunity to go after DeSantis and his lagging campaign. Leavitt added, “Ron DeSantis is showing his true colors. The pressure of polling in third place is getting to DeSantis and now he is lashing out at the same voters who got him elected governor. DeSantis must immediately apologize for his disgraceful insult.”
Trump aide Steven Cheung added his voice to the chorus as well. He tweeted, “DeSantis goes full-blown Hillary and call MAGA supporters ‘Listless Vessels.’”
DeSantis’ spokesperson Bryan Griffin has attempted to place the blame on the outlets reporting on the interview and not the governor’s intent. He tweeted, “The dishonest media refuses to report the facts. Donald Trump and some congressional endorsers are ‘listless vessels’. Why? Because Trump and DC insiders feel he is entitled to your vote.”
Griffin added, “@RonDeSantis believes your trust should be earned and has the vision, plan, and record to beat Joe Biden and reverse the decline of our country. That’s why Ron DeSantis will be showing up on Wednesday night to debate, and Donald Trump will not.”
His “listless vessels” comment isn’t the only part of the interview that has gained attention. DeSantis also questioned how for some conservative voters, speaking out against Trump is speaking out against the Republican Party as a whole and makes you a “RINO” — Republicans in name only.
The governor said, “I think that we have a stream in our party that views supporting Trump as whether you are a RINO or not. And so you could be the most conservative person since sliced bread, unless you’re kissing his rear end, they will somehow call you a RINO.”
Watch the interview with Ron DeSantis and the Florida Standard in the video above.
