The president devoted his morning to trying to convince supporters that the humiliating news was “fake.”
Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images/Reuters
President Donald Trump is unraveling after one of his favorite MAGA candidates dropped him ahead of the midterms.
In a rambling 449-word screed posted to Truth Social, the octogenarian president denied that Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds was distancing himself from Trump.
Florida gubernatorial hopeful Byron Donalds is one of several Republicans to have removed all references to Trump from their campaign websites.
“Another Fake Story is that a very close friend of mine, a man I endorsed very early, Byron Donalds, is taking me off his website and Campaign materials,” Trump began, before pivoting to his favorite topic.
“I won Florida by Millions of Votes, getting the Highest Vote Tally in History — Three times! My numbers are better now than they were at the Election,” he wrote, ignoring his cratering approval rating.
Donald Trump’s furious protest post on Truth Social.
Truth Social/Donald Trump
The president offered no explanation for why Donalds’ website has been fully revamped with a lot less Trump on it.
Screenshots of the website before and after the makeover clearly show there is significantly less emphasis on Trump’s endorsement, as his popularity among the MAGA faithful is less appealing to a broader audience.
Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds stripped away references to his endorsement from Donald Trump from his campaign website.
The Daily Beast/byrondonalds.com
Despite the photographic evidence to the contrary, Trump insisted the stories were “fake news.”
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The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Two Rallies are already scheduled in Florida for Byron and, will be, as always, ‘SOLD OUT!’ This was a Fake Story, with no sources, and the only justification for it is they want to stop my ever upward momentum,” Trump claimed in his attack, posted to Truth Social amid a Saturday morning posting spree.
Republicans across the country have been quietly removing Trump’s image and endorsement from their materials as poll after poll show the public’s deep disappointment with the president.
Recent polling in Florida suggests that Donalds, the sitting congressman in the state’s 19th district, was considered to be a shoo-in for much of the campaign, but is now facing real competition.
His opponent, Democrat David Jolly, is neck and neck with Donalds in the race for governor of the president’s adopted home state, with Decision Desk HQ designating the race a “toss-up.”
Democrat David Jolly is neck and neck with Donalds in the race for governor of the president’s adopted home state.
Another Florida Republican, Rep. María Elvira Salazar, released an ad targeting constituents in her majority-Hispanic Miami district, where she called out Trump’s immigration policies as having “gone too far” from the steps of the White House.
On Tuesday, Donalds posted a message to X saying he was “proud to have President Trump’s endorsement,” but did not address the removed references to the president or photographs of him being scrubbed from his website.
In fact, he quickly pivoted his message away from Trump by telling his followers: “While everyone is focused on our website, check out our policy proposals to make life more affordable for Floridians. Go to http://Byrondonalds.com/issues to see my policy page.”
Donalds tweeted that he was “proud” to have Trump’s endorsement—but didn’t explain his scrubbed website.
His post was quickly hit with a community note, which stated that “Donalds’ campaign removed at least 8 Trump references from his homepage” and that the candidate “didn’t mention Trump during his primary victory speech in Orlando, while praising other Republican leaders.”
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