Ron DeSantis’ campaign has unleashed a brutal and comprehensive list of gaffes made by Donald Trump as the pair continue to vie to be successful in their bid to be the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.
On Monday an X account operated by the Florida governor’s campaign team posted a long compilation of “fumbles, accidents and confused moments” by the former president so far this year.
The post claimed that the slip-ups were the reason why Mr Trump’s “handlers” “won’t let him debate”. Mr Trump has not taken part in any public debates with other GOP nomination hopefuls, having skipped two so far.
Despite this, his share of support in current national polls continues to dwarf those of his competitors. According to FiveThirtyEight, Mr Trump commands 58.4 per cent.
Mr DeSantis – who is currently second in the national polls – is far behind on 13.6 per cent.
The selection of video clips posted by Mr DeSantis’ campaign drew attention to gaffes by Mr Trump including appearing to get confused, multiple times, between the Biden and Obama administrations.
It also recalled a campaign rally moment where, just weeks after challenging his political rivals to a mental acuity test, Mr Trump seemed to confuse members of the Bush family as he recalled his 2016 presidential election campaign.
The former US president referred to his previous rival for the Republican nomination, Jeb Bush, as the person who “got us into the Middle East” – apparently mistaking him for his brother.
George W Bush, who served as America’s 43rd president, ordered US troops into Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks.
In another clip posted by the DeSantis War Room, after giving a speech at a rally in Iowa, he mistakenly thanks the city of Sioux Falls – which is in South Dakota – instead of Sioux City. He is later corrected by state Senator Brad Zaun.
Mr Trump has also become muddled with foreign geography, incorrectly claiming that Hungary had a border with Russia.
The mistake had come after he praised Hungary’s leader Viktor Orban as “one of the strongest leaders anywhere in the world”. In the same remarks he also described Mr Orban, incorrectly, as “the leader of Turkey”.
He has also claimed to be the only politician who can keep the US out of “World War II” – which ended, with the US victorious, in 1945.
The up-to-date thread also included how Mr Trump had been “laughed at” during his appearance at his civil fraud lawsuit in New York on Monday.
Mr Trump had said his concern in 2021 was dealing with threats from China and Russia and “keeping our country safe”. Mr Trump was then reminded that he was not president in 2021, having left office in January of that year.
