Ron DeSantis Doubles Down On Anti-LGBTQ Ad: 'Totally Fair Game'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got behind his anti-LGBTQ ad on Wednesday and labeled his criticism of former President Donald Trump as “totally fair game” following backlash around the campaign video over the past week.

The ad, which the campaign shared via a Twitter account on Friday, touched on Trump’s 2016 promise to “protect our LGBTQ citizens” and touted the Florida governor’s laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community.

It has since sparked backlash from conservative LGBTQ+ group Log Cabin Republicans and it spurred a brutal dig from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg .

DeSantis, in an appearance on Tomi Lahren’s OutKick show, described Trump as a “pioneer” in bringing gender ideology “into the mainstream” before claiming that the former president has tweaked his messaging ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

“I think identifying Donald Trump as really being a pioneer in injecting gender ideology into the mainstream — where he was having men compete against women in his beauty pageants — I think that’s totally fair game because he’s now campaigning saying the opposite, that he doesn’t think that you should have men competing in women’s things like athletics,” DeSantis said.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung weighed in on DeSantis’ comments, describing it to NBC News  as: “A desperate DeSanctus campaign, with a flailing candidate, in its last throes of relevancy.”

The governor went on to claim that his campaign has been “very clear” on protecting “the rights of our girls” and women athletes.

“And ultimately when you talk about some of the gender ideology that’s being unleashed in this country, in the state of Florida, we are fighting back against that,” he said.

DeSantis’ team has gone to bat for the ad in recent days.

DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw slammed former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell — who served under Trump as the first openly gay U.S. Cabinet member — for calling the ad “undeniably homophobic .”

“Opposing the federal recognition of ‘Pride Month’ isn’t ‘homophobic,’” Pushaw wrote on Friday . “We wouldn’t support a month to celebrate straight people for sexual orientation, either ... It’s unnecessary, divisive, pandering. In a country as vast and diverse as the USA, identity politics is poison.”