On Friday, a political action committee supporting former President Donald Trump released a strange TV ad criticizing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for allegedly using his fingers to consume chocolate pudding.
The Make America Great Again PAC utilized an unverified account of DeSantis’s unusual eating habits to criticize the prospective presidential opponent for his purported support for reductions in well-liked retirement programs.
“DeSantis has his dirty fingers all over senior entitlements,” a narrator intones in the 30-second spot. “Like cutting Medicare, slashing Social Security, even raising the retirement age.”
As an actor dips his fingers into chocolate pudding and devours the sticky treat, the narrator persistently criticizes Trump’s key primary opponent.
“Tell Ron DeSantis to keep his pudding fingers off our money,” the narrator says. “And someone get that man a spoon.”
DeSantis denies supporting any imminent cuts to the retirement programs and aims to maintain their strength. The votes on the bills were advisory and unlikely to result in any modifications to the programs.
The advertisement capitalizes on a relatively unknown story that DeSantis utilized three fingers to scoop up pudding during a private plane trip in 2019.
The strange incident was brought up again when DeSantis refuted it in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan and attempted to leverage the story for political gain.
“Pudding? Is that really the best you got?” DeSantis. “Bring it on.”
The Make America Great Again PAC’s latest television ad is part of a series of attacks on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is considered a potential rival to former President Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary.
The ad refers to a little-known report that DeSantis ate chocolate pudding with three fingers during a private plane ride in 2019.
It also accuses DeSantis of supporting cuts to retirement programs. However, DeSantis denies the accusations and maintains that he wants to keep the programs strong. Despite Trump’s attacks, DeSantis has not yet declared his candidacy for the presidential race and has refrained from responding to Trump’s criticisms.
Recent GOP polls show that Trump has widened his lead over DeSantis, with around 50% of Republican voters supporting him compared to DeSantis’s 25% support.