Trump’s former ambassador Donald Tapia endorses Ron DeSantis for president

A former Trump administration official will back Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis for president in 2024, should he run — arguing the former president’s penchant for name calling has turned people off. 

Donald Tapia, who served as US ambassador to Jamaica from 2019 to 2021, explained his decision to back DeSantis over the 76-year-old former commander-in-chief in an interview with Politico.

“The name-calling has turned a lot of people off,” Tapia told the outlet. “Let me tell you, we don’t like that.”

Tapia is putting his money where his mouth is. 

The retired electrical company executive donated more than $50,000 to DeSantis’ gubernatorial reelection bid and hosted a pair of fundraisers for him, according to Politico.

Tapia further told the outlet that he predicts a three-day-long retreat for DeSantis to be held at Florida’s Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach will be “overwhelmingly” attended by former Trump supporters. 

The former ambassador himself donated more than $100,000 to Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns. 

DeSantis is thought to be planning on entering the Republican presidential primary race in the spring, joining Trump, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy as announced candidates.

Trump has repeatedly mocked the popular Florida governor as “Ron DeSanctimonious” and has called him a “RINO [Republican in name only] GLOBALIST” in posts on his social media website, Truth Social.

Over the weekend, Trump denied a New York Times report claiming that in private the former president has been using an ethnic slur against Italians to refer to DeSantis. 

“I will never call Ron DeSanctimonious ‘Meatball’ Ron, as the Fake News is insisting I will,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.