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For reasons that make sense to no one but his most ardent supporters, Donald Trump has decided to engage in a ridiculous smear campaign against Ron DeSantis. That culminated on Tuesday in the former president twice sharing a picture and post accusing the Florida governor of being a groomer and a pedophile.

BREAKING: Trump not-so-subtly accuses DeSantis of being a child predator.

Absolutely beyond the pale.

This is gutter trash behavior—Republican voters need to send Donald Trump to the ash heap of history once and for all. pic.twitter.com/QhJguD2tWJ

— Reaganite 🇺🇸🇬🇧❄️🍾 (@emperoreaganite) February 7, 2023

RedState reported on that, noting that the picture in question has never even been confirmed to be DeSantis and was first revealed years ago by a far-left propaganda outlet. Assuming the picture is real, though, it would have been from a party for graduating seniors that DeSantis chaperoned when he was a teacher in his early 20s.

Former students have said that he did chaperone parties on campus while teaching (this was a boarding school with on-campus housing). None of them have accused him of anything but normal behavior, and if the scandal here is underage drinking in the 1990s, please hang on a moment while I laugh out loud.

Now, for what I believe is the first time since Trump decided to start his one-sided jihad, DeSantis has responded directly to the former president.

BREAKING: DeSantis responds to Trump ReTruth accusing him of being a "groomer"

"I'd just say this. I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden […] I don't spend my time trying to smear other Republicans." pic.twitter.com/Ddj9Mb1MYj

— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) February 8, 2023

DeSantis is still trying to stay above the fray, and that’s probably the right move this early in the cycle. He hasn’t even announced a 2024 run yet, and getting in the mud only distracts from the policy wins he’s racking up in Florida. Those policy wins will be key for any future argument he makes to attain the White House.

With all that said, I don’t want to have to write articles like this. I don’t wake up in the morning with a deep desire to point out what really stupid thing Donald Trump has done (and contrary to some claims, I don’t write about him that often). What I want is for Republicans to understand that Joe Biden is the enemy and that defeating Democrats is all that matters.

No one’s ego should take precedence over saving the country. I think Trump simply doesn’t get that or he refuses to accept it. He’s obviously very fearful of a possible DeSantis run, but spreading far-left conspiracies about grooming is not the way to handle the situation. The burning down of the party’s chances in 2024 by starting an unnecessary intraparty civil war, and spreading abject garbage needs to stop. Unfortunately, I don’t think it will.