The Trump campaign came out swinging late Tuesday with a new ad spot targeting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former President Donald Trump's top competitor for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Sounding the alarm about "Lockdown Ron," the voiceover in the video cautions voters that DeSantis "failed Florida" and urges them not to let him "fail America" as a presidential candidate.
The ad claims that during the COVID-19 pandemic, DeSantis shut down Florida businesses, drove away state tourism, and used a mandate to keep residents locked in their homes.
"He wants you to forget, but Floridians remember," the voiceover states.
Viewed more than 10,000 times on Rumble, the spot was flagged by Twitter users as needing context. Users attached a community note to the post that linked to a New York Post story in which Trump praised DeSantis' strategy for reopening Florida. They also outlined the phases of the state's reopening.
The DeSantis campaign responded shortly after the video was posted to Twitter.
"You're embarrassing yourselves," the DeSantis War Room account replied.
"Here's Donald Trump repeatedly praising @RonDeSantis for keeping Florida OPEN and FREE," the account wrote, including a video montage of Trump's complimentary remarks.
Twitter users were quick to poke holes in the ad's narrative, with many replying with memes and videos that contradicted the Trump campaign's claims.
"This is the worst take of all time," Vance Murphy wrote. "Trump needs to fire his entire PR team."
Christina Pushaw wrote: "You lie because the facts aren't on your side" and quote-tweeted the DeSantis team's response.
Some, however, defended Trump, with oregon4TRUMP tweeting: "He's basically a trump appointed governor. He turned out to be a backstabbing RINO wannabe."
A New Hampshire Journal and Co/Efficient poll, taken after Trump's indictment on federal charges and released Friday, found the former president leading DeSantis in the GOP primary race by 34 points.
The RealClearPolitics national polling average has Trump leading DeSantis 51% to 21%.
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