Trump Camp Gleefully Roasts Rival Getting ‘Spanked on Fox News’ — They Use The ‘Spanking’ Thing A Lot

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign gleefully roasted Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for getting “spanked on Fox News” — employing a metaphor they use frequently.

The Trump campaign sent a memo to reporters Tuesday taunting DeSantis over, among other things, a Fox News interview that a Trump spokesperson equated to a spanking:

“It has been a terrible 24 hours for Ron DeSanctimonious as he got thoroughly embarrassed in an interview on FOX News and new polling that shows him getting crushed.

Last night on Laura Ingraham’s show, Ron was confronted with the sad reality that he had to pay for Bob Vander Plaat$ endorsement. What’s even more humiliating is that investment has failed to give him any type of boost in his poll numbers in Iowa or nationally.

Speaking of poll numbers, a brutal poll from Morning Consult shows DeSanctus at a paltry 14%, while President Trump has a commanding 50-point lead at 64%.”

— Steven Cheung, Trump spokesperson

The “spanking” in question took place on Monday night’s edition of Fox News Channel’s The Ingraham Angle, during a nearly 9-minute interview that was mostly host Laura Ingraham serving up questions that were not adversarial.

There was an exchange about a controversial endorsement that was perfunctory and not followed up upon:

LAURA INGRAHAM: Bob Vander Plaats, I know him, he’s the influential Iowa faith Leader. He recently gave you his endorsement, which is coveted in the state. But now there are questions surrounding the money he received from groups linked to your campaign. Now, he was asked about this last week on Special Report. Watch.

BRET BAIER: DeSantis campaign, a superPAC linked to him, a nonprofit group supporting him together paid $95,000 in recent months to the Family Leader Foundation, according to campaign finance reports. That not true or that’s true?

BOB VANDER PLAATS: Well, it’s definitely true. And I encourage everybody to read the Reuters article. Everything we do is above board.

LAURA INGRAHAM: Governor, the allegations, obviously, or the inference here would be that it was like a pay to play to get an endorsement. You have a chance to clear that up.

RON DESANTIS: Well this PAC I don’t control, as you know, but they paid for advertising. So that’s a very influential group of evangelicals in Iowa. They’ve hosted a number of major events. They had a summer event. We just had the Thanksgiving forum. So they’re paying to be able to be in programs and to be able to advertise the candidacy. And that happens. That’s frequently happened.

But Bob Vander Plaats’s endorsement is not for sale. He’s got a great reputation. He’s become a friend of Casey and me along the way. He’s very influential in Iowa. And so it’s a scurrilous charge it’s without merit. And, you know, if somebody endorses somebody other than you, you don’t always have to lash out and attack the person who made the endorsement. It’s a primary. People can have different choices in this, and there’s not always an ulterior motive.

So I think the attacks against Bob Vander Plaats have been a bit out of bounds, just as I think the attacks against Governor Kim Reynolds have been out of bounds.

Trump’s team has used the “spanking” thing at least four times now, always with DeSantis, who was also the subject of another bonkers memo that featured a sexualized retelling of strife at a DeSantis-aligned SuperPAC. Previous spankings have been administered by CNN, Kaitlan Collins, and the people of Florida.

Watch above via Fox News Channel’s The Ingraham Angle.