Trump: DeSantis Channeling McCain, Romney With Ukraine Flip-Flop

45th President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential “War Room” Twitter account this week appeared to liken Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to legacy Washington neoconservatives by revealing that, like DeSantis, two of the most recent, pre-Trump, failed GOP presidential nominees had referred to Russia as a “gas station.”

During a recent interview with Piers Morgan this week, DeSantis flip-flopped on the question of escalating U.S. involvement in Ukraine and claimed that his past non-interventionist remarks about the eastern european country’s conflict with Russia were “mischaracterized.”

At one point throughout their discussion, DeSantis likened Russia to a “gas station” with “nuclear weapons,” and called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” that must be held accountable.

Ron DeSantis says Russia's President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal without the capability to realise his ambitions.

"[Putin] is basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons."

Watch his interview with Piers Morgan, Thursday at 8pm.@piersmorgan | @GovRonDeSantis pic.twitter.com/M3BjFQueih

— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) March 22, 2023

“I think he’s hostile to the United States, but I think the thing that we’ve seen is he doesn’t have the conventional capability to realize his ambitions,” DeSantis said of Putin. “And so, he’s basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons and one of the things we could be doing better is utilizing our own energy resources in the US.”

While the former president in the past has not shied away from branding the Russian leader as a villain, Trump has made the prospect of peace, de-escalation, and avoiding a potential Third World War a central priority to his 2024 presidential re-election effort — along with dismantling the “globalist neocon establishment.”

“Nothing is more important than avoiding that nightmare. We will avoid it, but we need new leadership. Every day this proxy battle in Ukraine continues, we risk global war. We must be absolutely clear that our objective is to immediately have a total cessation of hostilities. All shooting has to stop,” President Trump said in a 2024 presidential “Agenda 47” campaign video.

#AGENDA47: President Trump on the difference between the globalist establishment class, and those who are truly committed to stopping the Ukraine war and dismantling the entire neo-con nation-building industrial complex in Washington.

"We need PEACE without delay!" pic.twitter.com/eLdMQ1WfTM

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) March 16, 2023

Shortly after Morgan published clips of the interview with DeSantis online, Trump’s team was swift to point out that former Republican presidential nominees John McCain and Mitt Romney had also referred to Russia as a “gas station.”

“Look, Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country,” McCain said after taking a trip to Ukraine in January of 2015. “It’s kleptocracy. It’s corruption. It’s a nation that’s really only dependent upon oil and gas for their economy, and so economic sanctions are important.”

MCCAIN. ROMNEY. DESANTIS. pic.twitter.com/muJMu0aZvE

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) March 23, 2023

Romney, who like McCain lost his presidential campaign after securing the Republican nomination, seemed to like to expression and has referred to the country as a “gas station” in the years since.

In fact, just twenty days ago, the anti-Trump Senator wrote an op-ed for DeseretNews, wherein the Utah Senator recycled the decade-old “gas station” remarks about Russia, specifically citing McCain, and called for America to continue its expensive support for the Ukraine war.

“Russia’s gross domestic product, or GDP, is a fraction of that of China, the EU or the United States. Its population is half of ours and an eighth of China’s — and it is declining,” Romney wrote. “Putin’s oligarch-corrupted economy lags far behind. The late John McCain quipped that ‘Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country.'”

Trump has frequently likened DeSantis to Romney, alongside other prominent neoconservatives within the upper echelons of the GOP establishment.

Notably, just nine days after Romney penned his pro-war opinion piece for DeseretNews, the Trump called DeSantis a “disciple” of former House Speaker Paul Ryan during his Iowa rally, then likened DeSantis to the Romney specifically.

President @realDonaldTrump gets big applause in Iowa after he me vows to protect social security and ethanol, two things Paul Ryan’s disciple Ron DeSantis opposes.

🔥🔥🔥

(Paul Ryan was also booed) pic.twitter.com/dKu4RTCDgy

— Alex Bruesewitz 🇺🇸 (@alexbruesewitz) March 13, 2023

“Ron was a disciple of Paul Ryan,” said President Trump as his supporters booed Ryan’s name. “Who is a RINO loser who currently is currently destroying Fox and would constantly vote against entitlements. He would just vote against them,” said the former President.

“Paul Ryan is a big reason that Mitt Romney, I’m not a big fan of Mitt Romney, lost his election,” said Trump. “To be honest with you, Ron reminds me a lot of Mitt Romney, so I don’t think you’re going to be doing so well here.”

President @realDonaldTrump gets big applause in Iowa after he me vows to protect social security and ethanol, two things Paul Ryan’s disciple Ron DeSantis opposes.

🔥🔥🔥

(Paul Ryan was also booed) pic.twitter.com/dKu4RTCDgy

— Alex Bruesewitz 🇺🇸 (@alexbruesewitz) March 13, 2023

Shortly after, the “Trump War Room” Twitter account took a jab at the governor’s “gas station” comments, DeSantis during an interview with Newsmax’s Eric Bolling appeared to flip-flop on his previous Ukraine flip-flop, and claimed that he “never changed anything” about his political stance on the European conflict.

“I care more about securing our own border in the United States than I do about the Russia-Ukraine border and it seems like the Establishment… ignore the problems we have here at home,” said DeSantis.

Gov. @RonDeSantisFL: “I care more about securing our own border in the United States than I do about the Russia-Ukraine border and it seems like the Establishment…ignore the problems we have here at home” pic.twitter.com/0FdVtNich7

— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) March 24, 2023

Amidst confusion over the governor’s Ukraine stance and as presidential polling support for the governor dramatically decreases in the wake President Trump’s potential legal squabble with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the former president says some of DeSantis’ most wealthy “globalist” financial supporters are “calling” him to no avail.

“Ron DeSanctimonious thought he could run for President despite his less than average numbers on COVID, Crime, and Education. Florida was successful long before DeSanctis got there. You just can’t get away with voting to cut Social Security, raise the minimum age to 70, and then vote to obliterate Medicare—three times each,” Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social.

“His Polls are crashing, and some of his biggest financial backers, Globalists all, are calling me now, but I don’t take their calls—No Interest!”

Follow Andrew on Twitter @whiteaf5.