Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shared a photo of President Donald Trump playing golf with his wife Casey two weekends ago in Florida.
DeSantis conceded that the president and Florida’s first lady partnered together ‘had no trouble winning the match.’
It comes as Casey DeSantis is mulling running for governor, despite Trump already endorsing a formidable GOP primary opponent – Florida Rep. Byron Donalds – a move that could be interpreted as another way to extract payback on DeSantis – who dared to compete against Trump in the 2024 Republican primary.
In Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power, journalist Alex Isenstadt details what he says was the Trump campaign’s plot to derail DeSantis’ 2024 primary bid in the most vicious way possible.
‘Trump didn’t just want to stop DeSantis from winning the Republican nomination,’ Isenstadt wrote, in excerpts obtained by DailyMail.com. ‘He wanted to destroy him and make it impossible for him to run for anything ever again.’
The ex-president was incensed that DeSantis wouldn’t wait his turn – and run in 2028 instead – after Trump endorsed him over another Republican during the governor’s 2018 gubernatorial bid, effectively handing him the nomination.
Several months ahead of DeSantis’ May 2023 entry into the race ‘Trump’s high command had huddled in the campaign’s West Palm Beach headquarters, with one purpose: figure out how to make Ron DeSantis look weird.’
‘The group exchanged alleged tales portraying the governor in an unflattering light – like the time DeSantis shoved chicken fingers in his jacket pocket, the time he clipped his toenails in the back of a security vehicle, and the time he had a bathroom mishap aboard an airplane,’ Isenstadt wrote.
Trump greets Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey at a campaign rally at the Hertz Arena on October 31, 2018 in Estero, Florida
Another tactic used by the Trump campaign was making fun of DeSantis’ high-heeled boots, according to the book (DeSantis speaks at The Gathering in Atlanta, on Friday, Aug. 18, 2023)
On Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shared a picture of wife Casey (left) golfing with President Donald Trump (right). It comes after the Trump campaign humiliated DeSantis during the 2024 Republican primary
Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power by Axios journalist Alex Isenstadt will be released March 18
There was even an odd anecdote about Casey.
‘There was the story of how DeSantis supposedly drove a golf cart behind his wife Casey, as she ran around the neighborhood so she would lose weight,’ Isenstadt continued.
‘Or how, when he was a congressman, he allegedly stockpiled dirty underwear in his gym locker,’ the Axios reporter added.
The attack that would really stick came after operatives at the Trump-aligned super PAC MAGA Inc. found out the Daily Beast was about to publish a story detailing DeSantis’ weird eating habits.
MAGA Inc.’s Taylor Budowich, who now serves as a White House deputy chief of staff, received an email from a colleague entitled ‘Pudding Fingers.’
‘Oh my God,’ Budowich texted a member of his team. ‘What the f*** is this?’
The Daily Beast had uncovered that DeSantis once ate a plastic tub of chocolate pudding using three of his fingers.
MAGA Inc. was working on a commercial ‘based on the forthcoming article and feature a DeSantis look-alike using his fingers to scoop chocolate pudding out of a container and then sucking on them.’
Donald and Melania Trump with Ron and Casey DeSantis in Florida in February 2019
‘The commercial reinforced Trump’s broader case against the governor: that he was, well strange,’ Isenstadt wrote.
At MAGA Inc., there was some back-and-forth on whether to run the spot.
‘On one hand, it would spread like wildfire. On the other hand, the operatives knew it could come off as low-rent and silly and hurt his prospects of raising big bucks from elite donors,’ Isenstadt wrote.
Budowich eventually pulled the trigger ‘after editing out some zoomed-in shots of the DeSantis look-alike flopping his pudding-lathered tongue around, which he thought was too much to stomach.’
The Trump aide only paid $100,000 to air the spot for one day, knowing it would go viral without much help.
The Florida governor, who had tried to fashion himself as the person who could deliver ‘Trumpism without the turmoil,’ looked aloof and awkward before officially entering the race.
In the end, DeSantis only made it through one primary contest – the Iowa caucuses – in which he came in a distant second place – with Trump earning 51 percent of the vote share to the governor’s 21 percent.
He suspended his campaign less than a week later.
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, right and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, pointing at each other during the CNN Republican presidential debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 10, 2024
President Donald Trump celebrates winning the Iowa caucuses on Monday, January 15, 2024. He trounced Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the first primary contest by around 30 points. DeSantis dropped out of the race the following Sunday
DeSantis decided against going directly to New Hampshire, the next contest, and tried to get under rival Nikki Haley’s skin instead by making a trip to her home state of South Carolina, causing a teacher to cry at his final campaign event in Lexington.
From there, DeSantis returned to Florida, but behind-the-scenes, Isenstadt reported, Trump’s co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita was trying to get the governor to New Hampshire after all.
‘It was a turning point,’ Isenstadt wrote. ‘The Trumpians had thoroughly disemboweled DeSantis – questioning his manhood, deriding him as weird, and even accusing him of wearing high-heeled boots to make himself appear taller. Now they were trying to get him on the same stage as Trump.’
DeSantis declined LaCivita’s offer.
He ‘wanted to be done with the whole thing,’ Isenstadt wrote. ‘The idea of schlepping up to frigid New Hampshire wasn’t appealing.’
‘Whatever the case, Trump was finished with DeSantis,’ Isenstadt said. ‘Trump told aides that he would have endorsed DeSantis as his successor if the governor had waited another four years to run for president. But DeSantis had burned the relationship down and destroyed his political career, Trump concluded.’
Spokespersons for Ron and Casey DeSantis and the Trump campaign did not respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
