>> Speaker 1: Governor DeSantis talked about Trump supporters.
He used the word words listless vessels.
>> Speaker 2: I wasn't talking about Trump supporters.
>> Speaker 1: Hold on, I'm gonna play it for everybody and then you can go ahead.
Let's listen.
>> Speaker 4: A movement can't be about the personality of one individual.
If all we are is listless vessels that just supposed to follow whatever
happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning,
that's not gonna be a durable movement.
>> Speaker 3: Ron DeSantis trying to desperately clarify a statement he made
during an interview with the center right publication known as the Florida Standard.
The Trump campaign has completely capitalized off this moment, and
they're referring to the statements you just heard as DeSantis's basket
of deplorable statement.
They're trying to make it appear as though DeSantis was referring to Trump supporters
when he used the phrase empty vessel.
But I do want to give you the full statement before I give you the backlash
he's getting from Team MAGA.
He said, quote, the movement has got to be about what are you trying to achieve on
behalf of the American people.
And that's got to be based in principle.
Because if you're not rooted in principle, he says, if all we are is listless
vessels that are just supposed to follow whatever happens to come down the pike
on Truth Social every morning, that's not going to be a durable movement.
Now, the Trump camp again compared this to DeSantis's basket of
deplorables statement, making reference to Hillary Clinton referring
to Trump voters as a basket of deplorables.
You have the spokesperson for the Make America Great Again Pac kind of
piggybacking off of that statement to Hillary Clinton.
Trump supporters are 'deplorables.' To Ron DeSantis, they are 'listless vessels'.
The truth is, Trump supporters are patriots.
And the same line was being used by Jason Miller on X.
He wrote via Twitter, looks or X,
I should say looks like Ron DeSantimonius just had his basket of deplorables moment.
Not good.
Ron DeSantis rips Donald Trump supporters as listless vessels.
But Jenk, I think it's pretty damn obvious that DeSantis was referring the Trump
lackeys in Congress, those who really have no principles or values and just
kinda go along with whatever Trump wants because they're so afraid of his base.
But I don't really know if that is much of a distinction for Trump's base, right?
Because Team MAGA probably doesn't take kindly to that statement either.
I don't know. What do you think?
>> Speaker 5: Yeah, so first of all, this is yet another exhausting faux outrage.
So the mainstream media does this all the time.
They didn't put the comma there, they put a semicolon.
We're outraged, right?
And so now there's the collabo between mainstream media and Trump,
which is an ironic collabo because they both want to attack DeSantis.
So they were both pretending to be outraged by this super normal comment,
okay?
So that's and by the way, I hate DeSantis, but I'm not at all outraged by
this comment because I have a mind and I can tell the words that people use.
And I don't have to pretend to be outraged by Ron DeSantis cuz I'm plenty
outraged by him on things he actually did, right?
Now, what could Ron DeSantis say attacking Trump surrogates or
Trump backing Republican politicians that wouldn't
be mischaracterized as attacking the Trump voters?
Nothing, no matter what he says,
they're gonna pretend he said it about Trump voters.
And by the way, I'll go way further than DeSantis did and say,
is it also true about Trump voters?
Yeah, at least half of them,
I said the same thing about Hillary Clinton's comments.
Half of them are deplorables,
half of them are listless vessels who listen to the cult leader.
The other half are perfectly redeemable.
They've got lots of issues, but
they generally agree with us on economic issues and have been misdirected.
And I know DeSantis can't say that, and no one in media, mainstream media can
say that because we cannot attack the beloved Republican voters, right?
But I can do any damn thing I like.
So, yes, it's true, and it's irrelevant in this case.
>> Speaker 3: I think Ron DeSantis is like, this Foible is
the symptom of Ron DeSantis's own fears, right?
His own cowardice, because, look, if you want to go after Trump, go after Trump.
This is his way of kind of indirectly, in a roundabout way,
going after Trump because he's so afraid to just attack Trump.
So when he uses these weird,
the weird framing here is really what ended up getting him in trouble.
And it creates an opportunity in which his political opponent,
in this case the Trump camp, can exploit his Foibles for
their own political purposes, and that's exactly what they're doing right now.
Now, I didn't know this, but a former Trump administration official,
Ken Cuccinelli, apparently big fan of Ron DeSantis and
did not like the way CNN had reported this story.
So I wanna actually go to that video because he's calling him out.
He's calling him out.
>> Speaker 2: There was a cut you cut from the beginning of that quote to
the listless vessels you just did what the problem is.
So everybody who just watched that understand,
go read the transcript [CROSSTALK] >> Speaker 1: Okay, fine, [CROSSTALK] so
you summarize for us what was it that he was trying to say?
>> Speaker 2: Well, first of all, his first point is an excellent point.
This should be about America, not about individuals.
>> Speaker 1: Okay, and [CROSSTALK] how do we get from there to listless vessels?
>> Speaker 2: Yes, well, the rest of an entire paragraph by the the way,
mean, there's a pretty big gap in your cut.
So he's talking about some of the folks in DC who've endorsed Trump.
He's talking about the more general environment and
referring to all of us collectively.
We can't just sit back and take all of this be listless vessels.
We have to move ahead with a different vision.
>> Speaker 3: So let me give you the part of the statement that Cuccinelli is
referring to there.
So during the interview on Friday, DeSantis described the split in support
for him and Trump within the party, criticizing huge Trump supporters,
like in Congress, who have incredibly liberal left-wing records.
What?
Without being specific about whom he was referring to,
mostly because what he said was a lie.
Which Republican in Congress right now is lefty, what is he saying?
So he just completely made that up and then he name dropped
Republican politicians who are in fact supporting him over Trump.
He said, quote, then you have other people, you know,
like Congressman Chip Roy, who has endorsed me, Congressman Thomas Massie.
These guys have records of principal fighting the swamp
that are second to none.
And yet, they will be attacked by some of these people and called RINOs.
By the way, I don't think DeSantis really has a leg to stand on when it comes
to the swamp or being against the swamp because literally on the same day
the story broke, the Washington Post had a lengthy piece about
Ron DeSantis's desperate fundraising efforts.
The Florida governor's fundraisers hoped that nine lobbyists would raise at least
$1 million each for DeSantis's political action committee, the state and
the Republican Governors Association, according to the document,
which was drafted by Heather Barker, a top DeSantis aide and his former fundraiser,
and shared with others.
And get a load of this to help them haul in large sums of money, the document
suggested that lobbyists be allowed to offer their clients certain perks,
if you wanna call this a perk, such as meals and rounds of golf with DeSantis,
who loves the sport.
Is there a politician, Jake, who doesn't love golfing?
[LAUGH] it's just amazing.
DeSantis's fundraisers envisioned that some golf outings with the governor would
net contributions of $75,000 or more,
according to other emails among DeSantis's political advisors.
But Jake, DeSantis is totally against the swamp.
>> Speaker 5: Yeah, so a couple of things here.
First of all, if you don't know who Ken Cuccinelli is, that's the Cooch.
He's the guy who tried to outlaw sodomy in Virginia, and that also includes oral sex.
So he was gonna put people in prison for getting hummers, okay?
So that's who that lunatic is.
So the idea that the Ron DeSantis supporters in
the Republican Party are liberal RINOs is hilarious.
That part cooch is right about, right?
And DeSantis is right about, Chip Roy, Tom Massie, lunatics,
as giant right wingers as you'll ever find.
So no, saying that DeSantis guys are rinos is ridiculous.
Okay?
So that part, let's be fair to DeSantis.
Secondly, but DeSantis brother, you gotta make up your mind, man.
Are you gonna fight these guys or are you not?
And so this, by the way, here,
I'll show you how unbiased we are, fair show in America.
[LAUGH] Ron DeSantis chose not to fight Biden.
He chose not to fight Hillary, that's why he lost.
And so when you go into a primary, that's when you make the decision,
am I gonna fight or am I not gonna fight?
If you're not going to just pack up and go home and
stop embarrassing yourself, right?
So, if they come at me with, hey,
did you call the people on the other side listless vessels?
I would have said, I don't give a goddamn who you are pretending I said it about,
but the answer is, yes, I did.
Yes, I did, and here's why they are listless vessels, and
here's why they should do better, okay?
So look, I could prove that point, too.
Biden versus Bernie in the 2020 primaries.
Do I think that some Democratic voters were brainwashed by mainstream media?
Absolutely, did that make them listless vessels in a sense?
Yeah, it did.
So I know because way earlier in my life, I was among them.
I thought mainstream media was telling the truth.
Politicians are having a real debate every week I tune in for
the debate about their ideas.
[LAUGH] okay, sorry, I love you, brothers and sisters, I've done your drug, but
you don't know you're in a cult.
So I don't think there's any harm in saying it about voters,
whereas everyone else loses their mind when you talk about the voters,
but shows strength either way, and DeSantis so far has shown none of it.
And finally, the great irony is the cult that I'm referring to,
the mainstream media cult,
it tells people, Biden taking hundreds of millions of dollars from donors.
That's not relevant at all, he doesn't care about those donors.
Well, ironically, that's the same media telling you, yeah,
the bribes that Ron DeSantis is taking, that's not a big deal either, right?
So when he goes golfing with his donor buddies [CROSSTALK] that's what you got
from the piece.
>> Speaker 3: That's what you got from the piece Jake.
>> Look, what I know is no, to be fair, okay, that piece points it out.
You're absolutely right about that.
>> Yeah. >> Speaker 5: Do they point it out in
legislation?
No, do they point it out as a regular course in covering these candidates?
Absolutely not.
But the more important thing here is DeSantis is saying we're hardcore
conservatives, and earlier I told you that in a lot of ways they are.
But he's also taking those bribes,
which is what triggers the MAGA mind into thinking he's a rino.
So I hear you on that, MAGA, but remember, Donald Trump also takes those bribes.
Look into it, look into Sheldon Adelson and Donald Trump and
literally every major donor and Donald Trump.
Saudi Arabia, Donald Trump.
So all of these crooks in Washington take these bribes, and
both corporate media and right wing media lull you into a false sense of
complacency that the guys on your side aren't taking them.
The reality is DeSantis is, Trump is and Biden is.