‘Stupid ad’: Karl Rove pans anti-DeSantis ‘pudding fingers’ spot

Pudding fingers
Rove says Trump needs to unite Republicans, not insult them.

Karl Rove is knocking a new super PAC slam alleging Ron DeSantis has “pudding fingers.”

The 30-second “Pudding Fingers” ad from MAGA Inc. begins with a shot of a White man in a suit sitting down at a table for one going three fingers deep into plastic tub of chocolate goo. This image alludes to an article in The Telegraph from March, in which unnamed “observers” report the Governor eating pudding with his fingers.

On Fox News, Rove told Neil Cavuto that it was a “stupid ad” during an extended condemnation of the spot.

“I thought it was a stupid ad,” Rove said. “First of all, most people will not see this ad. It is a very small buy. We are spending more time talking about this ad and drawing attention to it than the ad itself is going to get because it’s a very small buy in the greater scheme.”

“Every time Donald Trump sees somebody that he’s upset about, he demands that they strike out at him,” Rove said, calling the strategy “not smart.”

“Do you think that this is going to encourage people who believe that we need to save Social Security and Medicare from going bankrupt? Do you think that this is going to cause them to say ‘Well, you know what Donald Trump has made me feel better about him’? No, it’s not.”

“He’s sitting there in Mar a Lago thinking up insults about fellow Republicans and then expecting them to fall in line behind him in a November election. If he wins the nomination, that’s the wrong way to go about doing it.”

The ad claims that the Governor is “sticking his fingers where they don’t belong, and we’re not just talking about pudding.” It charges that DeSantis is putting his “pudding fingers” into “senior entitlements, like cutting Medicare, slashing Social Security, and even raising the retirement age.”

DeSantis has recanted his pro-cut position, which he held when he was in Congress. But that hasn’t stopped former President Trump from repeatedly maintaining the Florida Governor would slash senior entitlements if elected President.

DeSantis denied the “pudding fingers” allegation in an interview with Piers Morgan, saying he doesn’t “remember ever doing that,” wondering if it was from “anonymous sources,” before saying he may have done that as a kid and then leaning into the controversy.

“There’s a lot of people when they go at you, sometimes they have really good ammunition. You’re a crook. You did this … you did that. For me, you’re talking about pudding. Is that really the best you’ve got? Bring it on,” DeSantis said.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. He writes for the New York Post and National Review also, with previous work in the American Conservative and Washington Times and a 15+ year run as a columnist in Folio Weekly. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


3 comments

  • Mercury Shampoo Ed 👍

    April 15, 2023 at 12:06 pm

    Everything the lunatic fringe right wing does is stupid. What does he expect?

    • Bye Karl

      April 15, 2023 at 8:44 pm

      Karl is seeing the unraveling of the right wing hate machine as it eats its own tail. All those years and all that effort he put into it, imploding in slow motion for all to see. Karl is smart enough to know this is the beginning of the end for him and his type. Good riddance.

  • TJC

    April 16, 2023 at 2:33 pm

    When Trump first jumped into the 2016 presidential race, Rove called him an idiot. He said Trump’s insults of fellow Republicans was divisive. Later on, of course, Rove fell in line behind Trump. Now he observes that Trump is insulting fellow Republicans and “expecting them to fall in line behind him,” and says that, whether it works or not, it’s the wrong way to win the nomination.
    So Rove, one-time successful guru to the Bush dynasty, still doesn’t get that the Trump Republican Party is the party of racist, sex-orientation obsessed, self-serving, violence-inciting, gun-worshipping sacrificers of school children, for whom mere name-calling is foreplay to meaner, more debasing, and more divisive legislation. Of course Trump will continue to attack fellow Republicans, of course they’ll fall in line.
    And so will Rove.

Comments are closed.


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