Former President Donald Trump sent out a press release referring to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, his top 2024 rival, as “Rob”.
The Trump team sent out an “in case you missed it” alert on Wednesday, sharing a Daily Mail story, which had the typo in the headline: “Steve Bannon calls Rob DeSantis a ‘weasel’ and Mike Lindell brands him ‘disgusting’ for his response to Trump’s looming indictment as MAGA world rages at the Florida governor for his ‘porn star’ dig”
The Trump press team neglected to correct the spelling before blasting out the press release.
“Trump now calling DeSantis ‘Rob’ in press releases,” Maggie Haberman of The New York Times tweeted. “Apparently they were quoting the Daily Mail and didn’t change.”
“Funny thing is, it might become the new nickname rather than admit a typo,” one Twitter user said.
“He was struggling to come up with the right nickname, but getting someone’s name wrong is so much more dismissive, so I think Rob could stick,” another added.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously would pretend to forget people’s names as a way of insulting them. In May 2021, Axios referred to the tactic as “feigned forgetfulness”.
She has called Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson “Don” and Axios added in 2021 that “she’s also acted as if she can’t remember fellow lawmakers at all, as she’s done with [Republican Senate Leader Mitch] McConnell while discussing negotiations over coronavirus relief”.
“Putting aside that Don Trump has previously referred to his current wife as Melanie, normal folk would take being called a weasel by the likes of Steve Bannon as a high compliment. Thin skinned Harvard & Yale graduate Ron DeSantis?” Michael Friedman tweeted.
Jim Newell of Slate added: “Maybe it was a typo but this is the winner. Trump MUST commit to ‘Rob DeSantis’.”
New York Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie said, “okay, ‘Rob DeSantis’ is actually pretty funny”.
“Two years of meticulous image cultivation and political positioning just to get turned into strawberry jelly by a guy who won’t learn your real name on purpose,” one Twitter user said.
“I expect we’ll eventually see similar comments about Mark Pence,” CNN Medical Analyst Jonathan Reiner tweeted.
“Republicans have been calling the Democratic Party by the wrong name for years as a sign of disrespect (and the wrong name is almost always quoted directly without comment by the press) Seems weird it took this long for Republicans to start doing it to other Republicans,” one account holder noted.
“I don’t know man, issuing an official statement (or email whatever this is) with the words ‘looming indictment’ next to your candidate’s name seems pretty dumb,” Jordan Teller added.
