Taking aim at DeSantis, Trump goes further than he should have

The New York Times published an article that quickly made the rounds among political insiders, especially in the Republican Party. Its lede was straightforward:

For months, former President Donald J. Trump has been grumbling quietly to friends and visitors to his Palm Beach mansion about a rival Republican power center in another Florida mansion, some 400 miles to the north. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a man Mr. Trump believes he put on the map, has been acting far less like an acolyte and more like a future competitor, Mr. Trump complains. With his stock rising fast in the party, the governor has conspicuously refrained from saying he would stand aside if Mr. Trump runs for the Republican nomination for president in 2024.

The article coincided with an Axios report that said the former president “is trashing Ron DeSantis in private as an ingrate with a ‘dull personality.’”