DeSantis Trashes Byron Donalds After Surprise Trump Endorsement

Ron DeSantis is scrambling after Donald Trump upended his plans to make DeSantis’s wife his successor for governor of Florida with a single Truth Social post.

“I am hearing that Highly Respected Congressman Byron Donalds is considering running for Governor of Florida, a State that I love, and WON BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. “I know Byron well, have seen him tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and he is a TOTAL WINNER! ... As Governor, Byron would have a BIG Voice, and would work closely with me to advance our America First Agenda.… Byron Donalds would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida and, should he decide to run, will have my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, BYRON, RUN!”

This ringing endorsement is an indirect rejection of DeSantis, with whom Donalds had a public feud after he endorsed Trump over DeSantis in the 2024 Republican primary. And it’s a direct rejection of DeSantis’s wife, Casey. 

​​“[Casey is] somebody that has, I think, the intestinal fortitude and the dedication to conservative principles,” DeSantis told reporters on Monday. “Anything we’ve accomplished, she’d be able to take to the next level.”

He went on to take shots at Donalds. 

“The reality is we’ve achieved victories in Florida.… A guy like Byron, he just hasn’t been a part of any of the victories that we’ve had here over the left over these last years,” DeSantis said. “He’s just not been a part of it. He’s been in other states campaigning doing that and that’s fine, but OK, then deliver results up there.” 

Shamed former attorney general nominee and Florida Republican Matt Gaetz chimed in on X: “Man it hurts me to see this [sad emoji]. Governor DeSantis, don’t you remember when you, @ByronDonalds and I were working collaboratively to get you elected in 2018?  We literally were your debate prep team.”

DeSantis has long tried to keep one foot in the MAGA pool and another in classic conservatism. That tightrope act may come to a head in 2028 as the GOP makes critical choices about its post-Trump future. 

French President Emmanuel Macron visited the White House on Monday, and during a press conference in the Oval Office, he was forced to correct President Trump on Ukraine.

Trump remarked that “Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine. They get their money back.” Macron immediately set the record straight, touching Trump’s arm as he explained the truth.

“No, in fact, to be frank. We paid. We paid 60 percent of the total effort, and it was through, like the U.S., loans, guarantee, grants, and we provided real money, to be clear,” Macron said.

Trump wasn’t satisfied with this explanation, and later said, “But they get their money back, we don’t, and now we do, but that’s only fair.”

Trump has attacked Ukraine in recent days, accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of being responsible for Russia’s invasion, enjoying a “gravy train” from the United States, and even calling him a “Dictator Without Elections.” Trump also held negotiations with Russia last week about ending the Ukraine war without representatives from Ukraine or the European Union.

The apparent shift in U.S. policy has caused alarm in Europe, with European leaders scrambling to adjust. Macron is partly traveling to the U.S. to convince Trump of the danger of Russia to Europe and to convince him to continue supporting Ukraine. Based on Monday’s press conference, it’s not clear if Macron will have much success.

The United States has refused to sign a U.N. resolution condemning Russia for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, joining just 18 other countries voting “no.”

The denial of this resolution, titled “Advancing a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine” is the first time the United States has refused to support a U.N. measure brought forth by Ukraine. The resolution calls for “a de-escalation, an early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the war against Ukraine, marked by enormous destruction and human suffering, including among the civilian population, in line with the Charter of the United Nations and international law.”

The other countries opposing the resolution included Israel, Hungary, North Korea, and Russia.

“I would rather not explain it now, but it’s sort of self-evident I think,” Trump told reporters on Monday when asked why the U.S. declined to support the resolution that all of Ukraine’s European allies supported wholeheartedly.

The Trump administration had instead posited its own version of the resolution, which called for an end to the war in Ukraine but conveniently omitted any mention of Putin or Russian aggression. That resolution failed to pass.

Trump is capitulating to Russia hard and fast. He blamed Ukraine for starting the war and called President Zelenskiy a “dictator without elections,” while refusing to call Putin one. And in a break from decades of presidential norms, he’s made it clear that he views the U.S.-Ukraine relationship as merely transactional, holding any further aid to the war-torn country hostage unless they give him access to valuable rare earths.

Republican lawmakers across the country are coming face-to-face with droves of angry constituents in the wake of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s upending of the federal government. 

Representative Mark Alford held a town hall in Belton, Missouri, Monday, where he was met with jeers from the crowd as he attempted to justify Musk’s power over government personnel, days after the unelected bureaucrat told federal employees to report five things they accomplished in the last week, or be fired. 

“Why is an unelected person allowed to hire and fire federal employees?” Alford read from a piece of paper, in a video from the Kansas City Star. 

Alford struggled to respond to the question as his constituents shouted him down. “The reason is ... he was hired.… Elon Musk was hired by the executive Donald Trump, and he has given him that authority—”

The room erupted into loud booing. 

Alford’s limp support for the massive layoffs recommended by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency was peppered with interjections about the billionaire technocrat’s blatant conflicts of interest and lack of oversight, according to a video posted to Facebook by Daniel Scharpenburg, a union labor activist.

The Missouri Republican really stepped in it by suggesting that if his constituents weren’t happy with Trump’s appointment of Musk, they could vote for someone else in the next election. 

“We didn’t elect Elon!” one person screamed.

“You don’t represent us, you represent Elon Musk!” cried another. 

In Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Republican Representative Glenn Grothman also came face-to-face with his angry constituents in an overflowing town hall Friday morning, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. 

Like Alford, Grothman attempted to downplay Musk’s unchecked power when asked how he felt about the unelected bureaucrat’s role in government. 

“He does not have the ability to do any actions on his own,” Grothman said, echoing Trump.

“We did not elect him!” one man shouted. 

When faced with one constituent voicing her disgust with Musk’s incendiary rhetoric about assistance programs, Grothman fled. 

“Calling those people with different abilities ‘leeches’ and ‘losers,’ and that they’re ‘leeching off the system,’” the constituent said. 

“I don’t think so,” Grothman said.

“Yes, I’ve heard it from their own posts,” the constituent responded. 

“I don’t believe it,” Grothman said, walking away. 

“You don’t believe it—you can read it! You are in denial,” the constituent cried. 

“I’ll google it,” Grothman said over his shoulder as he continued out of the room.   

Earlier this month, Musk reposted a meme on X calling out the “parasite class” who use the federal programs Trump intends to slash.

And in Trinity, Texas, Republican Representative Pete Sessions also heard criticism from dissatisfied constituents during a town hall in a community center Saturday, according to The New York Times. 

Veteran Louis Smith told Sessions that while he supported cuts to government spending, Musk was not the guy for the job. 

“I like what you’re saying, but you need to tell more people,” Smith said, per the Times. “The guy in South Africa is not doing you any good—he’s hurting you more than he’s helping.”

Over the weekend, a woman was dragged out of a Republican town hall in Idaho for questioning whether the event was meant to be a public forum or a “lecture.” A former NFL player was also carried out of a City Council meeting in California by police officers last week after protesting the installation of a MAGA plaque at a public library.

A prank played in the cafeteria of America’s housing agency should be cast as a warning sign of malcontent with Elon Musk’s sudden takeover of the executive branch.

On Monday, an AI-generated video of Donald Trump kissing and rubbing Musk’s feet streamed over the televisions in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s cafeteria.

“Long live the real king,” read the text superimposed over the disturbing image, referring to one of the president’s Truth Social posts last week, in which he wrote, “Long Live the King!”

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the stunt.

“Another waste of taxpayer dollars and resources. Appropriate action will be taken for all involved,” HUD spokesperson Kasey Lovett said in a statement to The Hill.

The news comes one day after it became apparent that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency was eyeing seismic cuts to HUD, according to an internal memo obtained by The Washington Post.

Some 4,000 employees are expected to lose their jobs at the federal housing agency—about half of HUD’s workforce. The mass layoffs are likely to upend the already fragile U.S. housing market and complicate mortgage transactions, as many of the cuts are expected at the Federal Housing Administration, “one of the largest mortgage insurers in the world,” per the Post.

Other cuts proposed for the federal agency would shutter field offices in rural areas across the nation, and practically eviscerate the Office of Community Planning and Development, which among other things provides housing for homeless veterans. The cuts would slash that office’s budget by 84 percent within the next two months.

The stunt also comes after weeks of mounting criticism of the president’s close relationship with the Tesla CEO.

Musk has visually dominated Trump in all of their recent joint appearances. Trump was interrupted and spoken over by his biggest campaign donor during an interview last week with Fox News’s Sean Hannity.

The week before that, Musk spent more time talking to reporters than Trump did during a joint Oval Office press conference announcing an executive order that would require federal agencies to bow down to the unelected bureaucrat’s bidding.

The image to the rest of the world was clear: While Trump hunched over the Resolute Desk, the world’s richest man took the reins. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell measured the time spent talking by each administrative figurehead and found that Musk had spoken 3,666 words at the executive order signing, whereas Trump spoke 2,487 words.

Musk’s constant presence at the president’s side stands in stark contrast to the role that Trump’s vice presidents play in his political realm: Former Vice President Mike Pence never spoke more than Trump did at a Trump-centric event during his first term, and Vice President JD Vance likely never will, either (in part because Vance has been conspicuously absent from many major events so far). That discrepancy calls into question what power Musk, who donated more than a quarter of a billion dollars to Trump’s presidential campaign, really has in the administration.