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The Memo: Trump team seeks to paint DeSantis as opportunist

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Former President Trump and his allies think they have found the chink in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) armor.
Trump and those around him have recently sought to paint DeSantis as an opportunist and flip-flopper. It’s the common thread in a number of recent Trump attacks — on topics including Social Security, Ukraine and even COVID.
In a speech in Iowa early this week, Trump accused DeSantis of wanting to “decimate” Social Security.
After DeSantis issued a statement on Ukraine that included the assertion that the war was a “territorial dispute” with no “vital” U.S. interests at stake, Trump — who holds a position that is broadly similar — accused DeSantis of having mimicked him.
Meanwhile, on COVID, Trump has sought to narrow the perception that there was any meaningful difference in approach between the Florida governor’s actions on the pandemic and his own.
On each of these points, Trump does have legitimate material to work with.
DeSantis, while a congressman, backed nonbinding measures that would have raised the retirement age to 70 — though he now says he would not “mess” with Social Security.
When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, DeSantis was critical of then-President Obama for the supposed weakness of his response. DeSantis advocated arming Ukraine at that time.
And on COVID, DeSantis did indeed announce a lockdown of his state in the early days of the pandemic — even though he went on to become a fierce critic of many COVID-related restrictions.
DeSantis has for the most part avoided responding to Trump’s baiting — though when a Trump-backing super-PAC filed an ethics complaint against him on Wednesday, a DeSantis spokesperson called it “frivolous and politically motivated.”
The Florida governor has been reluctant to say anything openly about whether he will enter the race, even though all signs suggest he will.

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