MAGA Rages Against DeSantis Remarks on Possible Trump Arrest: 'Weasel'

Former President Donald Trump's closest supporters are raging against his likely 2024 rival, Ron DeSantis, after the Florida governor broke his silence to deliver what they believed to be milquetoast remarks ahead of Trump's likely indictment by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office later this week.

Speaking at a news conference Monday, DeSantis stressed he had yet to hear any facts about Trump's potential arrest over his role in a scheme to pay off former sexual partners for their silence in the heat of the 2016 election cycle—an alleged violation of New York campaign finance laws.

He then accused the prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, of being backed by liberal megadonor George Soros, a Jewish man whose involvement in left-wing politics has evolved into a catch-all dog whistle against the Democratic donor class within the American right.

But while DeSantis bashed Bragg for his decision to "weaponize" his office to "impose a political agenda on society at the expense of the rule of law and public safety," he declined to commit to supporting Trump or assisting in his extradition to New York, saying he was not interested in being involved in a "manufactured political circus."

"I've got real issues to deal with," he told reporters.

For Trump World, that was the wrong answer—particularly as DeSantis has begun to slip in most presidential polling against the sitting president.

"You're better than this," former Trump advisor Steve Bannon said of DeSantis on his War Room podcast Monday morning. "That was a weasel approach."

"DeSantis is the Trojan horse we thought he was," MyPillow CEO and Trump ally Mike Lindell added. "I just want to put that out there how disgusting he is."

Others followed suit.

"So DeSantis thinks that Dems weaponizing the law to indict President Trump is a 'manufactured circus' & isn't a 'real issue,'" Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., wrote on Trump's social media platform Truth Social Monday. "Pure weakness. Now we know why he was silent all weekend. He's totally owned by Karl Rove, Paul Ryan & his billionaire donors. 100% Controlled Opposition."

"Issue that matters," Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on Twitter in an apparent jab at DeSantis. "Weaponization of our government against political opponents."

One politician's response to Trump's pending indictment did earn the approval of Trump's allies however: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who criticized the justice system in remarks Monday for allegedly misusing the legal system to target their political opponents.

"Today was a massive letdown for the MAGA base," Rogan O'Handley, a pro-Trump conservative commentator, wrote on Twitter. "Yes, Trump is our guy for 2024 and there's no shaking that. But we just got a preview of how DeSantis would fight the regime in 2028 and his response was not only lackluster. He got outflanked to the right by *Kevin McCarthy*"

Newsweek has reached out to DeSantis' office via email for comment.