Battle for the White House: DeSantis Supporters Launch First TV Ad Attacking Trump

(Patria) - A fundraising group supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's potential presidential candidacy has launched its first attacks on leading Republican rival Donald Trump, questioning the former president's loyalty to his fellow Republicans, Reuters reported.

Trump should be fighting Democrats, not lying about Governor DeSantis," the ad states. "What happened to Donald Trump?" they ask.

Former President Trump launched his campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination in November, and polls show him leading the field of declared and undeclared candidates. DeSantis, who is expected to run, is in second place in the polls. Never Back Down, which supports DeSantis, released the ad titled "Fight Democrats, Not Republicans" online and on "Fox News Sunday."

The ad begins by referencing Trump's legal troubles in New York. "Donald Trump is being attacked by a Democratic prosecutor in New York. So why is he spending millions attacking a Republican governor of Florida?"

Make American Great Again, which supports and is associated with Trump, has already attacked DeSantis in ads. In its latest ad on Friday, it referenced a Daily Beast report that DeSantis ate chocolate pudding with his fingers while on a flight from Tallahassee to Washington in 2019.

"DeSantis has his grubby fingers all over old laws, like cutting Medicare, cutting Social Security, even raising our retirement age," the ad states. "Tell Ron DeSantis to keep his pudding fingers off our money," it adds.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll in early April showed that 48% of Republicans say they want Trump to be their party's presidential candidate in 2024, while 19% support DeSantis.