Trump PAC has already spent more attacking DeSantis than it spent on all GOP midterm Senate candidates: report

Donald Trump’s super PAC has spent $15.3 million on attack ads targeting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – an amount that's more than the combined spending on Republican Senate candidates during the 2022 midterm elections, National Review reported Monday.

The whopping total from the PAC – MAGA, Inc. – also dwarfs the $1,500 that it has spent on supporting Trump, the report said. Polls show Trump far ahead in the GOP field for the 2024 presidential nomination, but DeSantis is expected to confirm this week that he’ll enter the race as Trump’s top challenger.

The report cited a summary posted on Twitter by Rob Pyers, research director for the California Target Book. It detailed the PAC’s expenditures totaling $15,030,520 for Republican senatorial candidates in the swing states of Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio and Nevada. J.D. Vance (R-OH) was the only Trump-endorsed candidate to win.

The same PAC has already made $15,332,819 on anti-DeSantis expenditures in the 2024 cycle, Pyers reported. “A spokesperson for DeSantis said the figures make clear that Trump views DeSantis as a threat,” National Review reported.

“These are the largest ongoing expenditures against a non-candidate in Republican primary history, and that’s all you need to know to draw the obvious conclusion: Governor DeSantis presents the best option for defeating Joe Biden,” DeSantis political team press secretary Bryan Griffin told National Review.”

This is how the report described Trump’s anti-DeSantis attack ads:

“MAGA Inc. launched a 30-second video of a man-eating chocolate pudding with his fingers last month — a play on a Daily Beast report that claimed DeSantis once ate a pudding cup with three fingers in lieu of a spoon while traveling on a private plane in 2019.

“But while the ad grabs viewers with its uncomfortable imagery, the spot ultimately does not concern DeSantis’s eating habits but rather is just the latest example of Trump’s team hitting DeSantis on entitlements.

“’Ron DeSantis loves sticking his fingers where they don’t belong. And we’re not just talking about pudding,” a voice-over says. “DeSantis has his dirty fingers all over senior entitlements, like cutting Medicare, slashing Social Security, and even raising our retirement age.’

“’Tell Ron DeSantis to keep his pudding fingers off our money,” the video adds. “Oh, and get this man a spoon!”