Heading into the first Republican debate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign faces a yuge deficit.

In a CBS News poll released Aug. 20, DeSantis trails former President Donald Trump by 46 points. A whopping 62% of likely Republican voters said Trump was their first choice, followed by DeSantis with 16% and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy collecting 7%.

Fading in the polls, DeSantis continues to gallivant around the country. Returning from a weekend in New Hampshire, DeSantis was compelled to elaborate on his comments during an interview with Gen Z influencer Will Witt, in which he warned Republicans to not become “listless vessels.”

Trump supporters took it as another holier than thou moment.

“Looks like Ron DeSantimonious just had his ‘Basket of Deplorables’ moment. Not good!” wrote Trump advisor Jason Miller in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).

DeSantis said the remark was a pushback to being called a RINO (Republican in name only) by some members of Congress. 

“They’re putting entertainment and personality over principle,” DeSantis told Fox News.

Meanwhile, Florida Sen. Shevrin Jones penned an op-ed to NBC News, warning of the dangers a potential DeSantis presidency poses.

“By nearly every metric, we do not want the nation to look like DeSantis’ Florida,” Jones wrote.