‘DeSanctimonious’ no more: Trump says he’ll drop ex-rival’s nickname

It didn’t take long. A little over an hour after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the Republican presidential primary and endorsed Donald Trump, the former president doled out his version of a consolation prize.

“Will I be using the name Ron DeSanctimonious?” he said after brief remarks at his campaign headquarters in New Hampshire. “I said that name is officially retired.”

The nickname, a staple of his social media posts and speeches for much of the past year, had run its course, he told the person who asked him whether he would continue using it.

His campaign struck a conciliatory tone in a statement, saying that “we are honored by the endorsement.” It was a note that Trump echoed at his rally later in the evening.

“He was very gracious, and he endorsed me, so I appreciate that,” Trump said at the rally.

The primary contest is now a two-person race between Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was his ambassador to the United Nations and has also become a target of his name-calling.

Trump’s playground taunting has bedeviled his opponents and amused his supporters since his 2016 campaign, when he frequently used derisive nicknames for Republican rivals such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and then for Hillary Rodham Clinton, his Democratic opponent. He did the same in 2020 to Democratic contenders including Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as well as to the eventual winner, President Joe Biden.