A painting of Ron DeSantis graces the cover of this week’s Time Magazine, showing the Florida Governor peeling an orange in what many see as a subtle dig at GOP arch-rival Donald Trump.
It is DeSantis’ first Time cover and it comes just days before DeSantis is set to launch his official presidential campaign, with Trump set to be his biggest potential challenge to the nomination.
The cover story, titled ‘The DeSantis Project’ had CNN anchors Boris Sanchez and Dana Bash chuckling at what Trump – who graced the cover of the magazine 35 times, including a Person of the Year honor – must think of it.
‘The first thing I thought of when I saw this cover, Boris, was Donald Trump is going to be not happy,’ Bash told Sanchez.
‘There are certain brands, historical brands that Donald Trump connects to and takes pride in, having a connection to,’ she added, after Sanchez agreed. ‘And ‘Time’ magazine and being on covers of ‘Time’ magazine is one of the primary ones.’
A painting of Ron DeSantis graces the cover of this week’s Time Magazine, showing the Florida Governor peeling an orange in what many see as a subtle dig at GOP arch-rival Donald Trump
Trump has not directly addressed the cover story, but he did continue to beat up on DeSantis on his TRUTH Social account Friday.
‘Sorry, but Ron DeSanctimonious is UNELECTABLE, and everyone knows why. I’m leading Biden by 11 Points. RAN TWICE, WON TWICE, AND DID MUCH BETTER THE SECOND TIME (ELECTION WAS RIGGED!),’ he wrote. ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’
He then posted an image of a favorable poll, adding: ‘As I said – Ron is unelectable. I am up on Crooked Joe Biden by, at least, 7 and Ron DeSanctimonious is losing by 4. His “campaign” has been a total disaster!’
The president has been attacking DeSantis regularly for months, even with the Florida governor only set to join the race officially next week.
The only presidents to appear more frequently on the cover of Time than Trump are Ronald Reagan (37) and Richard Nixon (40).
The story is a deep dive into DeSantis’ iron grip over Florida’s Republican Party, whom writer Molly Ball says ‘put aside their own pet projects to do DeSantis’ bidding.’
They appeared to praise his work in turning Florida into a deep red stronghold, one that DeSantis won by 20 points last year.
‘What was once the butt of jokes about gators and retirees is now the swaggering, Southern-tinged Free State of Florida—where men are men, woke is broke, and business is booming; 1,200 net new residents arrive every day,’ Ball writes.
The cover story, titled ‘The DeSantis Project’ had CNN anchors Boris Sanchez and Dana Bash chuckling at what Trump – who graced the cover of the magazine 35 times, including a Person of the Year honor – must think of it
It is DeSantis’ first Time cover and it comes just days before DeSantis is set to launch his official presidential campaign, with Trump set to be his biggest potential challenge to the nomination
Then President-elect Trump was declared Time’s Person of the Year in 2016
The only presidents to appear more frequently on the cover of Time than Trump are Ronald Reagan (37) and Richard Nixon (40)
Trump has not directly addressed the cover story, but he did continue to beat up on DeSantis on his TRUTH Social account Friday
DeSantis is already trying to run on Florida’s record following the end of the legislative session, touting its low unemployment rate and comparing it favorably Friday to New York’s.
In other comments Friday, DeSantis tore into ‘woke’ culture on campus, and said his Florida has ‘got moxie,’ riffing on a magazine piece about his state as he prepares to champion his home state with a launch in Miami.
‘Basically they said, you know, it’s the free state of Florida where woke is broke, where men are men and where business is booming,’ he said.
‘And I’m like, you know what? That’s not a bad slogan.’
Trump leads DeSantis by 56 to 19.9 in the latest RealClearPolitics average.
That lead has only grown since Trump was found liable for sexual abuse in the E. Jean Carroll trial while still facing a federal January 6 and federal documents probe, a New York trial related to his business, and a Georgia probe of his election overturn effort there.
Trump led DeSantis 42-22 in New Hampshire in a UNH poll released last month.
Trump visited the same Manchester diner three weeks ago, where a crowd developed both outside and inside. Back in 2016, when he made an appearance there, an exiting patron yelled ‘Enjoy your burger, racist!’ while he was dining.
