As if he doesn’t have more than enough problems at the moment, disgraced, one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump is now obsessing over what he perceives to be a threat to his primacy as head of the Republican Party: The hand gestures being used by Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis when he speaks on the stump.
According to a fascinating article in Rolling Stone, Trump has even suggested he might want to sue DeSantis for using his gestures and “style,” as if such things are protected by copyright.
Trump has a distinctive (and much-satirized) way of gesticulating while casually talking, delivering political speeches, or even “firing” contestants on his former game show. The sources note that when Trump has seen video clips of of DeSantis speaking at public events over the past year and a half, the former president has scornfully mocked the ascendant Florida Republican for appearing to imitate his body language, movements, and even, at times, speaking rhythm. One of the other sources recalls Trump joking at a dinner event earlier this year that he should sue DeSantis for copyright infringement.
Even some members of the ex-president’s inner circle have noticed the imitations and suggested that it goes far beyond just gestures, suggesting that DeSantis even steals policy ideas from the Donald:
The alleged rip-offs have raised eyebrows with other members of “America First” royalty. Donald Trump Jr. has told those close to him that he has noticed an uncanny pattern: Often he will tweet something from @DonaldJTrumpJr — a culture-war grievance or a burgeoning trend among the online right — and then very soon after, he will see those specific topics incorporated into the Florida governor’s talking points. This has happened enough times that Trump’s eldest son has come to believe, according to a person familiar with the matter, that DeSantis and his staff likely look to his Twitter account for inspiration and to raid it for their latest policy ideas or red-meat-hurling rhetoric.
Of course, all of this is emblematic of a much larger fissure taking place inside the GOP as 2024 approaches and both DeSantis and Trump may wind up facing each other for the presidential nomination, which remains unclear since Trump may well be under indictment by the time the primaries are held.
But if the two do wind up facing each other in 2024, the primary debates should be a blast to watch, especially if Trump accuses him of imitating his “style,” which of course is little than bravado and bullshit.
