'I Thought He Was DeSanctomonious': Donald Trump Ridiculed for Considering Ron DeSantis as His Nominee for Secretary of Defense

President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering nominating Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to be his Secretary of Defense, leading to several vocal critics ridiculing the potential pick and digging up previous attacks Trump and DeSantis made against each other during the 2024 Republican primary.

The former president, who frequently referred to DeSantis as "Ron DeSanctimonious," targeted the Republican governor throughout his campaign.

One user on X, formerly known as Twitter, shared various clips of Trump speeches mocking his former rival and wrote: "This is an enemies to lovers arc I should have seen coming. Ron has no spine and bent the knee to Donald faster than anyone."

Another user commented: "I thought he was DeSanctimonious. He would be WORSE than [Pete] Hegseth! Desantis is one of the torture people, and, when he ran for president, he was threatening to bomb Mexico and the Bahamas."

A third person joked: "Ronny is just dumb enough to seriously consider this. I hope he takes the job. We want him out of Florida!"

As OK! previously reported, DeSantis criticized the former president for not attending any of the Republican primary debates.

In August, the Florida governor told Erick Erickson, "I think everyone should debate if you qualify. I think you owe it to the people to put out your vision, to talk about your record, answer questions about your record and decisions that you may have made or not made."

Trump never debated any of his primary opponents and handily won the GOP nomination and eventually the presidency in a landslide electoral vote victory.

According to people close to the president-elect's team, Trump allies believe Hegseth, the current pick for Secretary of Defense, may not "survive further scrutiny."

The former Fox News host, who served in the U.S. Army and did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, has come under intense criticism amid allegations of assault, public intoxication and serial adultery.

There are a number of GOP senators who are not comfortable supporting Hegseth's bid, and given Republicans' slim Senate majority in the next Congress, the former TV personality can only afford to lose three GOP votes, assuming all Democrats vote against him.

Republican Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, who sits on the Armed Services Committee, said she would not commit to supporting Hegseth's nomination and revealed she planned to grill the former cable news host about new accounts of his alleged past.

"We're just going to have a really frank and thorough conversation," Ernst said of Hegseth's nomination process.