Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis calling MAGA Republicans "listless vessels."
DeSantis made the comment in an interview released Friday, saying, "If all we are is listless vessels that's just supposed to follow anything that comes down the pike on Truth Social every morning, that's not going to be a durable movement." This was an obvious jab to the followers of former President Donald Trump, who founded Truth Social after he was removed temporarily from X, formerly known as Twitter.
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While Mace is no friend to Trump, as the former president endorsed her opponent for reelection in 2022, she criticized DeSantis for attacking anyone in the Republican Party while he is campaigning for its nomination.
"I don’t know why anyone running for president would put down half of the electorate and identify them and call them listless vessels because they support the former president," Mace said on Lawrence Jones Cross Country Saturday. "Why he would do that while numbers are taken is really beyond me."
Mace suggested that DeSantis "probably shouldn’t question the principles or values or how conservative [MAGA Republicans] are."
"I’ve been labeled a lot of things, and I really just want to see us have better freedom, a better economy, and I want politicians to tell the truth, and we have to," Mace said. "If we want to rebuild the Republican Party, we have to support one another. We have to support conservatives, and we have to recognize that we have diverse conservative principles; a lot of people come from a lot of backgrounds, they support different candidates and we have to respect the process and respect the people and the vote that they're going to take during the primary."
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On Wednesday, DeSantis will have the opportunity to defend his policies during the first GOP primary debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Both DeSantis and Trump have qualified for the debate by their polling numbers and individual donations. However, Trump has refused to sign the loyalty pledge, committing not to run as a third-party candidate should they not win the Republican nomination, while DeSantis has signed it. Trump is not expected to appear in the debate.
Vivek Ramaswamy, Gov. Doug Burgum, Nikki Haley, and Sen. Rick Scott have qualified for the debate and signed the loyalty pledge, and former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have said they will also sign it.