Trump, Spared Attacks by Rivals in Iowa, Doesn't Return the Favor

[Zorro]

Candidate after candidate at an Iowa Republican dinner on Friday avoided so much as mentioning the dominant front-runner in the race, former President Donald J. Trump.

But when Mr. Trump took the stage after more than two hours of speeches by his lower-polling rivals, it took him less than three minutes to unleash his first direct attack of the night on his leading challenger, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.

Mr. Trump not only suggested that Mr. DeSantis was an “establishment globalist” but called him “DeSanctis,” which in Mr. Trump’s argot is short for the demeaning nickname DeSanctimonious and is so well-known that most attendees clearly got the reference. “I wouldn’t take a chance on that one,” Mr. Trump joked.

The crowd of more than 1,200, which had warmly welcomed Mr. DeSantis when he spoke earlier, laughed and applauded throughout Mr. Trump’s riffs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/28/us/politics/lincoln-dinner-iowa-2024.html

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Again, cowards. Will not one of them step up and speak out? The lowest democrat around won't ...

hesitate a bit in attacking the moron, but these people can't?

[vanlassie]

2. Ugly Americans.

[dutch777]

3. Only thing I can think of is other candidates r hoping Trump goes to jail and then they have a path

The play seems to be-- don't anger his base and he goes to jail and then its a free for all for the old Trump base. Christie at least has the guts to diss on Trump. It will be interesting to see if Trump does go to jail or otherwise leaves the race, if his voting base stays home out of disappointment (one can hope) or which alternative candidates they shift to.

[Deuxcents]

4. If they can't stand up to him, how are they gonna stand

For us when the issues get seriously dangerous? Not one of em fit to be dog catcher let alone our president.

[keep_left]

5. Nice to see that Trump is still using all the old bigoted dogwhistles...

...like (((establishment globalist))).

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Triple_parentheses

[ZonkerHarris]

6. So none of them really want to be President. Because you have to beat the champ to wear the belt in

boxing.

[BeerBarrelPolka]

8. They're

They're not going to knock him out. They're hoping for a judges decision

[ZonkerHarris]

9. yes, Republican "leadership"

Craven fear and cowardice.

[madinmaryland]

7. That whole party is nothing more than a clown show.