A pro-Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) super PAC dropped an advertisement targeting former President Donald Trump as a “gun-grabber” amid the National Rifle Association leadership forum.
Both Trump and DeSantis addressed the NRA event Friday, where the PAC, Never Back Down, targeted its ad and planned to distribute fliers with similar messages, blasting the former president for siding with liberals. The attack ad follows one from MAGA Inc, painting DeSantis as having “pudding fingers.”
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“Trump promised NRA members he’d have their back,” the spot declared. “But when Second Amendment rights came under attack, Trump abandoned us and stood with liberal Democrats.”
The ad highlighted Trump’s remarks in the wake of the 2018 Parkland School shooting that left 17 dead, in which he appeared to soften his position on guns. It also flagged Trump’s past support for red flag laws, increasing the age for assault weapons purchases, and calls for “taking the guns early.”
“Half of you are so afraid of the NRA,” Trump said in the clip. “We have to fight them every once in a while, that’s OK.”
During his NRA speech, Trump struck a dramatically different tone and affirmed his unabashed support for the Second Amendment. He also periodically mocked DeSantis, his likely primary foe, as “DeSanctus” during his remarks.
“I was proud to be the most pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment president you’ve ever had in the White House,” Trump said Friday. “I think that’s been acknowledged, and with your support, in 2024, I will be your loyal friend and fearless champion once again as the 47th president of the United States.”
DeSantis also addressed the NRA gathering via prerecorded remarks as he traveled between Virginia to address the Liberty University Convocation and New Hampshire for the Amos Tuck dinner.
“As governor, I’ve resisted calls to take up gun control even when such a stand is superficially unpopular because I understand that it is precisely at those moments when a right is unpopular that it needs true champions,” the governor said.
Never Back Down is a super PAC formed by former Republican Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in hopes of crafting a springboard for a DeSantis run. The group is not officially affiliated with the governor.
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Recently, MAGA Inc, a super PAC aligned with Trump, took out an ad roasting DeSantis over reports that he once ate pudding on a plane with his fingers, something he denied doing.
The group used that to attack DeSantis as having “his dirty fingers all over senior entitlements, like cutting Medicare, slashing Social Security, even raising our retirement age.”
Original Location: DeSantis super PAC puts Trump in crosshairs with ‘gun-grabber’ ad
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