Trump calls DeSantis 2024 launch a ‘disaster’ and makes bizarre joke about ‘red button’

Donald Trump mocked the disastrous Twitter Space launch of Ron DeSantis’ bid for the White House as he made a bizarre joke about Kim Jong-un.

“Fantastic! The launch of DeSanctus TWITTER is a disaster! His entire campaign will be a disaster. WATCH!” He wrote on Truth Social.

The start of the Florida governor’s campaign descended into chaos as Twitter immediately crashed as he tried to pitch his candidacy to Elon Musk.

“Rob,” my red button is bigger, better, stronger, and working (true!), yours is not! (According to my conversation with North Korea’s Kim Jung Un, soon to be my friend!)” Mr Trump wrote on TruthSocial.

Mr Trump tweeted in January 2018 that the “nuclear button” in Washington DC was “much bigger and more powerful” than the North Korean dictator’s “and my button works!”

Meanwhile, the one-term president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., took to Twitter to ridicule his father’s main rival for the GOP presidential nomination, branding the campaign debut a “destroyer.”

“DeSantis is making JEB! Watch High Energy right now,” he said.

The former president then posted two videos on Truth Social mocking Mr. DeSantis. The first showed a Tesla rocket crashing with “Ron” written on it, while the second mixed clips of the chaotic Twitter incident with Mr Trump’s own campaign launch.

The Twitter event, which began at 6 p.m. ET, plunged into chaos when technical issues hit and the audio dropped almost immediately.

David Sachs, one of the event’s moderators, said the sheer number of participants was “melting down the servers”.

Despite the derision he received for the incident, Mr DeSantis told Mr Musk it was over: “We should do it again.”

Earlier he explained why he was running for president before talking about right-wing culture war issues beloved by many of his supporters.

“I am running for President of the United States to lead our great American comeback,” Mr. DeSantis said.

“American decline is not inevitable. It is a choice,” he said. “And we must choose a new direction, a path that will lead to American revitalization.”