Donald Trump – a man who aims to lead the nation in 2024 – is apparently hard at work on a new strategy.
His advisers have been plotting, according to reports, to convince Mr Trump to refer to his presidential primary rival Florida Governor Ron DeSantis "Tiny D."
Mr Trump's team has apparently been workshopping the idea of using the nickname sometime in March, according to Bloomberg.
Could its provenance simply be that Mr DeSantis is short when compared to the "average" male height of approximately 6 feet?
Not according to a source who spoke on the issue.
“He’s also short but … yes of course it’s about his penis, that’s why we’re doing it,” a source familiar with the strategy told Rolling Stone, which first reported the development.
The sources told the publication that some of Mr Trump's longtime advisers are actually urging him to unleash the new nickname, and ensuring him that it will both stick with GOP voters and get under Mr DeSantis's skin.
Mr Trump is well known for nicknaming his enemies. Crooked Hillary [Clinton], Sleepy Joe [Biden], Lyin' Ted [Cruz]. But he's struggled to land on a truly Trumpian nickname for Mr DeSantis, frequently resorting to the mouthful of "Ron DeSanctimonious."
A New York Times report suggested he was tossing around the nickname "Meatball Ron," which evoked the image of the Florida governor as a Mario-esque pasta cook.
The former president has denied that he was considering using Meatball Ron.
Mr DeSantis finds himself in a difficult position when responding to Mr Trump. He can't go toe-to-toe with the former president when it comes to juvenile insults. Not only does no one do it better than the former Apprentice host, but Mr DeSantis runs the risk of alienating the "reasonable" Republicans who were averse to Mr Trump's bullying behaviour in the first place.
Instead, Mr DeSantis has walked a tightrope between outright gunning for Mr Trump and trying to keep himself in the good graces of MAGA world.
Earlier this year, the governor decried Mr Trump's indictment as a Democrat-led witch hunt while also noting he was unaware of "what goes into paying hush money to a porn star."
That comment earned him a lashing from Mr Trump, who suggested that Mr DeSantis was both secretly gay and insinuated that he may one day be the subject of a "Me Too" allegation.
Prior to that, Mr DeSantis slammed the FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago, which revealed Mr Trump had been hoarding sensitive government documents, calling it a "weaponisation" of government agencies against Democrats' political opponents. And if Mr Trump is held criminally liable for any of the numerous things he's being investigated for, Mr DeSantis said he would consider offering the former president a pardon.
The insults, in Mr DeSantis's mind, are an indication that Mr Trump sees him as a legitimate threat to his 2024 prospects.
“The way I’m being attacked, Trump has run almost $20 million in ads negative attacking me, you know, with frivolous and false smears,” Mr DeSantis told Fox News radio earlier this week. “I’m the one that’s taken most of the fire. And I think that’s an indication that people know that, yeah, we have what it takes and that we’re a force to be reckoned with.”
The Independent has reached out to Mr Trump and Mr DeSantis' teams for comment.
