The campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched a faux website called TrumpNikki2024.com in an attempt to paint his chief primary challengers as being in cahoots on a plan to be the Republican presidential ticket in 2024.
The DeSantis campaign asserts that the duo of front-runner Donald Trump and his former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley are ganging up on DeSantis while running on a platform of MEGA — "Make the Establishment Great Again."
"For years, Nikki Haley has wanted to be Donald Trump's Vice President, and now she is using her 2024 candidacy to finally make her VP dream a reality by following the lead of the former president as they've combined to spend more than $30 million against Ron DeSantis, all while she refuses to attack Trump," reads one section of the parody site.
The site also features a 71-second video montage of political analysts — including Lara Trump on Newsmax — conjecturing that Haley could be part of a Trump ticket.
"Crazier things have happened," Lara Trump, the wife of Donald Trump son Eric Trump, says in the snippet used from a Newsmax interview earlier this month. "Never say never with Donald J. Trump."
The video also points out that Haley hasn't lobbed attacks against Trump.
That assertion comes a day after the super PAC backing Haley — Stand for America — bashed the Trump campaign in a new TV ad in New Hampshire for — only attacking her.
"Of all the Republicans running for president, why is Donald Trump only attacking Nikki Haley? Because Trump knows Haley's the only one who can beat him," said that voice over in the ad.
Regardless, the "website" tried to hammer home the "Haley is easy on Trump" refrain.
"Even as MAGA Inc is now on air in New Hampshire with attack ads against Haley, she is still refusing to fight back," reads a passage. "With Trump as the front-runner, why isn't Haley spending on ads against him? The most logical explanation is that she's running for second place."
The Hill reached out to the Trump campaign for comment and got one.
"(Expletive), the DeSanctus campaign is really staffed by (expletive)," Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told The Hill.
The fuss comes amid Trump's continued prowess in the polls, as the former president sits with 62.7% of support in the GOP primary, with DeSantis running in a very distant second at 12%. Haley is third at 10.9%, according to FiveThirtyEight.com's polling average.
The Iowa caucuses begin in less than a month.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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