Ron DeSantis takes veiled swipe at Trump in 2024 presidential campaign launch

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis used his White House campaign launch to take a veiled swipe at former President Donald Trump, saying that “government is not about entertainment.”

Without naming him, DeSantis, the most formidable threat to Trump securing the GOP nomination, took the indirect shot at the 45th president during his Wednesday night comments on Twitter Spaces.

“Government is not about entertainment, not about building a brand,” DeSantis said in his interview on the platform following his presidential announcement.

“We must end the culture of losing that has infected the Republican Party in recent years,” DeSantis told Twitter CEO and owner Elon Musk during the kickoff event.

Polls indicate DeSantis, 44, has the best chance to surpass Trump, 76, as leader of the Republican Party, but still trails the former “Apprentice” star by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

DeSantis, who is considered a rising star in the GOP, and Trump, who lost reelection in 2020 to Joe Biden, were close allies before speculation began to grow about the Florida governor running for the GOP nomination in 2024.

Trump hasn’t been shy about ripping into DeSantis and did so again following the formal announcement in a series of posts on his social media site Truth Social.

“Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER!” Trump wrote.

“His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH!”

The Twitter Spaces event was mired in technical issues and led to much buzz from social media users.

With Post wires