When Donald Trump Jr. Unknowingly Criticized His Dad While Trying to Attack Ron DeSantis

During an episode of Triggered With Don Jr., in May last year, Donald Trump Jr. made an accidental mistake that was huge. He unknowingly replaced his father's name with that of his 2024 opponent, Ron DeSantis. This was when a tirade about the Florida governor's Twitter Spaces campaign kicked off.

Trump Jr. criticized DeSantis as "nasally" and "effeminate," and amid his podcast, he confused the names, leading to an awkward moment, as reported by HuffPost. He also accused DeSantis of failing to launch his campaign, and then unintentionally launched into a criticism of his father.

Trump Jr. said, "Once you actually put out the facts I think a different image is going to emerge. Ron wants people to think that he’s like ‘Trump-lite’ or something like that. He’s not, either on policy grounds or personality. Trump has the charisma of a mortician, and the energy that makes Jeb Bush look an Olympian."

As he went ahead, Trump Jr. didn't correct his mistake and instead continued to criticize DeSantis. The clip was shared on X by Ron Filipkowski, an independent journalist. Sharing the video clip he wrote, "Junior goes on a rant that is supposed to be about Desantis, but he misreads his script."

Soon after this clip went viral, a hashtag by Trump Jr. also started trending on X. As reported by Newsweek, Trump Jr. said, "As I said it was a #DeSaster and it took a long time for Elon Musk to apparently figure out what was going on, and it took two charismatic billionaires like Elon Musk and David Sacks to carry DeSantis through this, where he basically read like an op-ed about what he was going to do."

Not just Trump Jr. but his dad also criticized DeSantis on his Truth Social website. He wrote, "Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster."

The ex-president also posted a fake video making fun of DeSantis. After his campaign launch, DeSantis implied that the technical issues on Twitter Spaces were due to the high interest in his announcement.

He said, "We had a huge audience. It was the biggest they'd ever had. It did break the Twitter space. And so we're really excited with the enthusiasm, but ultimately it's about the future of our country." However, despite their constant feud, DeSantis withdrew from the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Trump earlier this year.

DeSantis shared a video on X, and said, “Now, following our second-place finish in Iowa, we’ve prayed and deliberated on the way forward. If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, I would do it. But I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources. We don’t have a clear path to victory.

Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign.” As reported by NBC News, he added, “It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear."