Late-night hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel recently reacted to reports that former President Donald Trump has coined a new nickname for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“We learned from The New York Times over the weekend that Trump’s new nickname for Ron DeSantis is ‘Meatball Ron,’” Kimmel said on his show Tuesday.
“Trump is going to eat that meatball like a snack,” he joked.
Colbert also focused in on “Meatball Ron,” a moniker that he called an act of “crystallized genius.”
“Ooh!” the comedian exclaimed.
Colbert proceeded to sing a parody version of the song “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel.
“Meatball Ron! He’s a walking, talking beef baton.”
On Twitter, “The Late Show’s” official account wrote that “Meatball Ron” was “[u]nfortunatley,” a “really great nickname.” Radio personality and “Life, Liberty and Levin” host Mark Levin argued that the pejorative was bad strategy on Trump’s part.
“I happen to like Meatballs. But this will turn off a lot of conservative voters. Not a wise move if true. I hope it’s not.”
New York Times reporter and Trump critic Maggie Haberman claimed on Sunday that Trump “has insulted Mr. DeSantis in casual conversations,” calling him “Meatball Ron” or “Shutdown Ron,” a reference to COVID restrictions the governor enacted in Florida.
Trump appeared to deny Haberman’s claims directly in a fiery post on Truth Social.
“All of the Fake News is reporting that I spend large amounts of my time coming up with a good ‘nickname’ for Ron DeSanctimonious, who is obviously going to give the presidential ‘thing’ a shot,” Trump wrote.
“They are all 100% wrong, I don’t even think about it — A very unimportant subject to me!!!”
While DeSantis has not officially thrown in his name for the 2024 presidential fight, he is already facing attacks from Trump. The Florida Governor was asked directly on Tuesday whether he would follow in the footsteps of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and announce a run for president.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” DeSantis responded, laughing.
