If someone told you that former President Donald Trump named a current Florida politician at a rally and was met with raucous boos, one would appropriately assume that Trump had just brought up Gov. Ron DeSantis.
After all, there is no love lost between Trump supporters and DeSantis fans.
Trump, the heavy favorite to emerge from the GOP primaries, and DeSantis, Trump’s chief primary rival, have swiftly become bitter rivals, and that appears unlikely to change anytime soon.
But it wasn’t DeSantis’ name that Trump invoked at a Wednesday night rally in Hialeah, a suburb of Miami, despite the Florida governor being just a stone’s throw away at the GOP primary debate.
No, curiously, Trump brought up the name of someone who has long supported the former president — typically a good way to engender positive vibes with Trump’s staunchest supporters — when the audible boos began cascading down at the star-studded rally.
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Trump mentioned GOP Rep. Carlos Giménez at the rally and, well, take a listen for yourself:
Trump: Your Congressman Cariess Gimez. You know him? Carless Gimenez. Some people say Carlos.
Crowd: Boo
Trump: Oh you don’t like him pic.twitter.com/UXvpSFhTSP
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 9, 2023
Have you ever been to a Trump rally?
Yes: 40% (2 Votes)
No: 60% (3 Votes)
Trump was trying to properly enunciate Giménez’s name when the audience picked up on who he was referencing.
That’s when the boos came crashing down.
Trump, in a rare moment of genuine shock, seemed taken aback by the boos raining down on one of his vocal supporters.
“Oh, you don’t like him?” Trump asked when the boos began to get louder.
After taking in a few more boos, Trump felt compelled to ask, “What’s going on?”
“Carlos! Come on, Carlos,” Trump added. “We gotta get that straightened out.”
Trump gauged the audience’s temperature on Giménez a few more times before ultimately expressing shock by saying, “Really? Wow.”
It’s not clear why Giménez is as seemingly unpopular with the MAGA crowd as he is, but this is hardly the first time that Trump supporters have vocally rejected the local lawmaker — again, despite his repeated support for Trump.
As the Miami Herald reported back in 2020, then-Miami-Dade Mayor Giménez was vocally booed by Trump supporters at a rally.
Despite this ongoing disapproval, even as recently as Thursday morning, Giménez told Fox News that Trump was the clear winner of the GOP primary debate, despite the fact that he didn’t actually participate in it.
