MAGA Torches DeSantis Camp for Taunting Trump Amid Funeral of Melania's Mom

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' campaign was ripped across social media Thursday after his press secretary took a swipe at ex-President Donald Trump on the morning of his mother-in-law's funeral.

Former first lady Melania Trump announced earlier this month that her mother, Amalija Knavs, died at age 78. The cause of Knavs' death is unknown at this time, but the former president said during a speech at his Mar-a-Lago estate on New Year's Eve that his mother-in-law had been "very ill."

A private service for Knavs was held at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea Thursday morning, which is near Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Florida. According to local reports, the funeral began around 10 a.m. and was attended by Trump, the former first lady, their son Barron Trump and Viktor Knavs, Amalija's widower.

At 9:15 a.m. Thursday, however, Jeremy Redfern, DeSantis' press security, threw a jab at Trump in a post to X, formerly Twitter.

"Current location of presidential candidates not named Ron DeSantis," Redfern wrote. "Nikki Haley: Basement. Donald Trump: Basement. Joe Biden: Basement."

The post immediately triggered Trump supporters, including Brenden Dilley, a podcast host and 2018 Arizona congressional candidate who called Redfern an "absolute buffoon" for making the post during Knavs' funeral.

"President Trump was at a funeral for his mother-in-law when you tweeted this," Jason Miller, senior adviser for Trump's reelection campaign, said in response to Redfern's post.

"You're a scumbag," added Alex Bruesewitz, a GOP political consultant aligned with Trump.

Redfern sparked additional backlash later in the day after he posted a follow-up to his original jab at Trump, writing on X that he was "glad Trump was able to attend his mother-in-law's funeral today and grieve with Melania's family."

"Unlike the gold star families that weren't allowed to have full military honors for their loved ones at our national cemeteries in 2020," Redfern added, sharing a screenshot of a March 2020 public health order that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, prevented family members of troops who died in the line of duty from hosting memorial services at national cemeteries associated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

From March 23 to June 8, 2020, while Trump was in office, the VA only performed direct interments of deceased military members. The restriction was lifted on June 9, 2020, according to the agency's website.

"It's a bold strategy, Cotton, [in reference to a Jason Bateman line from the movie Dodgeball] to double-down on attacking President Trump for attending his mother-in-law's funeral today," Miller wrote in response to Redfern's second post. "This will be addressed in the future in a much more pointed manner, but today is about honoring Mrs. Trump's mother."

Dilley also responded to Redfern's second post, writing on X, "It's as if you WANT Americans to hate Ron DeSantis."

Newsweek reached out to the press teams of DeSantis and Trump via email for comment Thursday.

DeSantis has long been considered Trump's closest challenger in the 2024 Republican primary race, although the Florida governor has lately appeared to lose some steam. The former president beat DeSantis by a whopping 30 percentage points in the Iowa caucuses on Monday, and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley trailed closely behind DeSantis in third.

The Florida governor's campaign has also faced some issues since launching his presidential bid in the spring. Following Monday's result, DeSantis' super political action committee, Never Back Down, announced staff layoffs and said that it plans to largely bypass the New Hampshire primary election to pour more resources into the South Carolina contest, reported The New York Times.