Former President Donald Trump isn't happy about all the attention Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been getting for kidnapping migrants and sending them off to Martha's Vineyard. Trump reportedly wants credit for DeSantis's cruel decision. That, and he's jealous of the attention the Republican Governor is getting from the media.
Via Rolling Stone:
Trump has fumed over all the praise DeSantis' action has been receiving in influential conservative circles lately — such as on right-wing media like Fox News — and has privately accused DeSantis of doing this largely to generate a 2024 polling boost for himself among GOP voters. (Earlier this month, Trump and his political operation blasted out a brief statement claiming, "Mar-a-Lago raid gave Trump a 10-point boost over DeSantis with Republican primary voters, poll shows.”)
The twice-impeached former president, the sources say, has also vented that DeSantis' latest stunt was yet another one of "my idea[s]" that the governor allegedly stole from Trump.
Trump wants credit for this:
Unnamed officials went to a shelter in San Antonio and reportedly deceived roughly 50 Venezuelan and Colombian migrants into boarding a chartered flight to Martha's Vineyard, possibly with misinformation about available jobs and housing. DeSantis directed the stunt, involving migrants who'd never set foot in Florida. Other Republican politicians have also been engaging in this tactic recently, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been busing migrants to Democratic enclaves to the delight of the anti-immigration right.
The story gets worse, as Newshound Ellen noted that the aviation company Ron DeSantis hired to fly migrants has dubious ties to Russia. DeSantis and Trump have a lot in common, but the Florida Governor is more intelligent, and that's frightening.